


New Kid, New Misunderstandings

by trebleDeath



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Hanzo is secretly a punk but he has to keep up his jock persona, Highschool AU, Jesse has depression, Jock Hanzo, Love Triangles, M/M, Minor Character Death, Otaku Genji, Recreational Drug Use, Senior year, Slow Burn, Stoner Genji, Twink Jesse, Underage Drinking, Underage Drug Use, Weird new kid McCree, binge read, like all of us, mentions of drug use, more like love polyhedron, more like twunk, their dragons are dachshunds if that makes you want to read this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2018-10-16 01:37:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 23,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10561208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trebleDeath/pseuds/trebleDeath
Summary: Hanzo, one of the star athletes for the high school of a small town and eldest son of a business man, not to mention straight A student, manages to fall for the new, quiet and weird new kid who looks like he just walked out of a low budget gay porno parody of Broke-back Mountain. He can't bring himself to admit it, since he has quite the reputation to uphold. But of course,lustlove at first sight wins, even when pitted against repressed feelings but an open sexuality, family issues, and inability to communicate in an effective way.





	1. Lowbudget Gay Porno Parody of Brokeback Mountain

**Author's Note:**

> I guess it's important to note that genji is not a weeb, because that implies the appropriation of japanese culture, andsince he is a japanese man, he doesn't do that. but in thi sau, he watches shit, entry lecel anime, and gets shitty waifu pillows, then gets high on weed. probably ironically. natsu from fairy tail is hi sfavorire. an yway, he is an otaku, not a weeb. 
> 
> This is modern highschool AU where all their ages are distorted by twenty years. So jesse is 17 and a senior, so is hanzo and angela. Genji is 15. A little baby really. More infor on this brief AU below. 
> 
> I am just now realizing it's redundant to say a porno parody of brokeback mountian, because they have sex in that movie, i think. never seen it. not into gay cowboy sex. anyway, i already wrote that phrase like four times, so shurt your hell mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i didn't know that chapter one notes and the entire work notes are different. so here. jere are some chapter one specific notes. 
> 
> despite tags, Angela is not in this chapter. No ships are in this chapter. This is kind of some set up. I know where this is going, for once in my damn life, and I actually wrote this kind of well.

Hanzo would have been fine keeping his head down all class, and just sleeping through the class, but a swat to the arm from one of his friends next to him paired with a comment forced his head up. 

“Oh my god. Look at the new kid.” 

He popped his head up and out of his arms to look at the lanky teen who walked into the classroom.

He had a scraggly soul patch and long hair for a boy, but what made him look odd, was his outfit. He was almost wearing what normal teens wore, except augmented in some way. His t-shirt was loose and adorned with what was presumably a band logo. His worn jeans were normal, except the honking belt buckle barely peaking out beneath his shirt, and the fact that the legs disappeared into his honest to God cowboy boots. 

With a small frown, a Hanzo leaned over to mutter something back to Nate. “He looks like he walked out of a low budget remake of Brokeback Mountain.” 

His colleague snickered as the new kid moved to sit in an empty desk near the door. 

His movement, however, did not seem to appease the teacher. She stood at the front of the room and gestured at the newcomer, as if no one had noticed the new kid who had walked in halfway through class. “Class, we have a new student.” She shifted her gaze slightly to look at him, “Would you like to introduce yourself?”

He sighed but got up and walked slowly to the front of the room. Despite his slumped trudge and sigh, when he got to the front of the room, he stood up straight and smiled. “Howdy. Name’s Jesse McCree. Nice to meet y’all.” 

There were some snickers in the room, probably from his choice of words. 

The teacher just smiled politely, “Nice to meet you Jesse, we’re all glad you’re here. Where did you come from?”

He cocked his head a bit before righting it, his mouth in a pretty little ‘o’ shape. “I’m afraid you misunderstood. I’ve lived in this area for quite some time, I just never really went to school. I’m supposed to be here to make up some credits that aren’t offered online, but picked up some core classes to get the senior high school experience.”

She nodded, “Well, we’re glad to have you anyway.” She moved towards the front of the room, giving Jesse the cue he needed to sit down at the desk he had previously claimed as his own. He didn’t say another word for the rest of class. 

Despite a few thrown wads of paper in his direction and a few comments just loud enough a few desks away to hear, Hanzo and Nate had no other interactions with the new kid. He didn’t react to anything verbal or physical lobbed his way and he left the classroom as soon as the bell rang. 

Hanzo didn't see him again until lunch came around. Even then, he only saw him from a distance, eating a sack lunch alone. Well. He was alone until Genji chose to sit across from him, his baggy anime shirt and dyed hair a fun contrast to Jesse’s overall style. 

A conversation appeared to start between them, and soon enough, both were smiling and laughing. 

Hanzo frowned from where he was sitting at the designated athlete table. Well, it was a table, that he and his friends sat at, and most of his friends came from the track and field team he was on. So, despite the lack of us versus them mentality present in the school, the table he sat at was deemed the sport table. 

Still frowning, Hanzo stood up from the table, and before anyone could ask what he was doing, he spoke. “I'm going to go check on my brother.” 

One of the boys, Leo, frowned, “Why are you always bothering yourself with him. It's like the Bible says, you're not your brother's keeper.” 

He rolled his eyes, “I'm not Christian and even I know that the guy that said that got damned to hell. I'm just going to see if he went to class.” He walked away from the table and towards his brother. 

He leaned across the table his brother was sat at, leaning on his left arm to allow Jesse a full view of his tattoo sleeve. Not that he was trying to show off or anything. 

He looked to his brother who had turned his attention from the new hid to him. “Hey Hanzo, have you met Jesse.” 

He glanced downward at him, “Yeah, he’s in my first period. How do you know him?”

“He’s in my pottery class, he’s pretty cool. Anyway, why are you over here, bro?”

“Just came to check if you actually went to class.”

He frowned slightly, “Well, I’m here for lunch, so that means something, right?”

Hanzo frowned in return, or more of, deepened his frown. “I can’t ever tell with you.”

“I just said that I met Jesse in pottery class, what other proof could you want. And what’s it to you anyway?”

He shrugged, “I worry, and so does dad.”

“Whatever.” He raised a hand up to wave him off, “You got your answer, I went to class this morning, now fuck off. You’re ruining the vibe and making both me and Jesse very uncomfortable.”

He pulled his head back, pulling his mouth out of the disapproving frown and into a thin line, effectively making a face of disbelief, and a face that accentuated his neck and cheek fat. “He hasn’t said or done anything this entire time, how can you tell he’s uncomfortable?”

Well, that wasn’t entirely true, Jesse had gone back to silently eating his lunch. Hanzo had made sure to glance down at the skinny teen before redirecting his gaze at his brother, not wanting to let his gaze linger too long on the new kid. 

Genji rolled his eyes, “Wow, you’re just really bad at reading the mood. Point is, fuck off or sit down. Leaning over people and interrogating one person while ignoring the rest of the group is kind of creepy and rude.”

“You’re creepy and rude.” He pushed himself off of the table and started to walk back to his previous spot at the jock table.

As he left, he heard Jesse speak up, “Does he always act like that? Kind of like a jerk I mean.”

Genji probably shrugged but he didn’t turn around to check. “To me, pretty much. I think most of it is a persona to be more like the fucking--” His voice was swallowed up by the rest of the conversations going on around them in the cafeteria. The distance, too, didn’t help Hanzo keep eavesdropping. 

He sat back down at the table, almost immediately, Leo threw an arm around him. “Your bro doing okay?”

“Yeah, he made a new friend too.” He tried to look disinterested, forcing himself not to look to his right at the pair as he stole a fry from someone’s lunch. 

“The new kid, right? He’s in my guitar class, and he’s weird. He didn’t talk to anyone but the teacher, and that was to tell him that he already knew how to play the guitar, and was just here to fill holes in his schedule. Do you think that he thinks he’s better than the rest of us?”

Hanzo shrugged, “I think you assume there’s more of an us versus them mentality than there is. He’s probably just weird or uncomfortable or something. I don’t think he has anything against you personally Leo.”

He frowned, “Good. Because I’m good at the guitar. And I bet that I know more instruments than him anyway.”

“I’m sure you do.”

The rest of the lunch period was spent quelling Leo’s fears of being replaced as the school's music and athlete combo. 

Hanzo didn’t really see Jesse for the rest of the day, or week, or month really. He was always in first period, but he was so quiet it almost seemed like he wasn’t there. Sometimes he’d catch a glimpse of him in the halls or sitting with Genji at lunch. The latter was pretty much the only time he saw him smiling, and his lopsided smile looked rather good on him. 

Still, other than the glimpses of him in the hall and of him in his dreams for some inexplicable reason, Jesse didn’t really pop up in his life. That is, until his history teacher dragged them kicking and fighting tooth and nail together. 

Okay, so it didn’t really work like that. 

Hanzo walked into the history room after school the last Friday of the month, a frown set on his face as it usually was. He walked up to the teacher who was alone as usual, “Hey, I noticed I’m failing your class. May I ask why, and if there’s any way that I can fix it?”

The teacher just gave him a sympathetic look before turning to walk to his desk. He picked up his insulated mug, presumably to sip at his now lukewarm coffee. “Mr. Shimada, you’ve been looking at the assignments I’ve been handing back to you right? Aside from the quizzes and test, which are a good portion of your grade work, your book work is just not very good. I don’t know what to tell you other than to study harder.”

His brows knit together as the corners of his mouth dove further down, finally finding their home on the lower half of his lower face. “Just study harder? Do you think I haven’t been studying already?”

He shrugged, “I don’t mean to imply anything, but I just don’t see how you can do so poorly in this history class if you aren’t studying. Maybe you should take some time off of your sports and set it aside for studying.”

Hanzo huffed in reply, “I’m getting all A’s in my other classes, so I think there’s just something wrong with your teaching methods or this class. And studying harder won’t raise my grade in this class. If I’ve already failed your stupid assignments, I can’t make those up by studying harder.”

He set down his mug and held up his hands as if surrendering, the sympathetic smile and crease in his brow still present in his face. “All right, maybe I overstepped my boundaries right there. You can definitely make up the work you failed, and I’ll even let you make up tests and quizzes, but you’ll have to come in lunches or after school for that. And if you really do dislike or can’t understand the way I teach, I suggest you get a tutor to help you with all the assignments you’ll be making up.”

His scowl let up a bit, “Where am I going to find a tutor?” He mostly muttered to himself, but of course, the teacher heard. 

“Do you know Jesse McCree? He’s something of a history buff, I’d suggest talking to him. I’m sure he’d be willing to help out if you don’t want to pay for a professional tutor.”

Hanzo’s stomach tightened for a reason he didn’t know, or more accurately, a reason he didn’t really want to look into. Still, he didn’t protest, he just nodded and walked out of the classroom. There was only so much of teachers he could take after school on a Friday.


	2. House of Children

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, as you can see, this just gained a chapter. because what I imagined would be chapter two, is too long. Already it's three thousand words, and this is just half of what I wanted to write. Well. That just means I get to write more instead of doing my classwork. I'm dying squirtle. 
> 
> In this chapter, there are some rumours and rude talk about people being gay, but it's not super malicious? I don't know, maybe it is. A lot of it is just what teenagers say to each other. There is also references to weed smoking. 
> 
> I also say in this chapter through vague dialogue that Hanzo is out, because y'all don't like closeted characters and idk who reads the notes I don't really either.
> 
> edit: i forgot that zarya's name is not really zarya. fuck me sideways with a spork.

Just a few hours after the end of school, Hanzo looked down at the phone in his hands. Opened on his screen was a draft that he had meant to send to Jesse McCree. He had gotten the number for the new kid from Genji, who apparently had grown awfully close to him in the past month. 

The same could not be said for Hanzo. He didn’t talk to him, and he could barely bring himself to send this completely unobtrusive mundane text. Hell, it took him a few minutes and a lot of backspacing for him to even get what he had so far. All he had written was, ‘This is Hanzo Shimada from your math class. Sorry for interrupting but I was wondering if I could ask you a question.’

Even that much seemed like too much. Well, not like it was too much per se, more like it was too stiff and he was going to come across as a weirdo or as someone who thought himself higher than the other. He didn’t want either of those things. But all previous attempts at writing anything to send him were equally or more unsuccessful, making him seem like he didn’t care, thought they were already best friends, or just plain uneducated. 

His thumb hovered over the send button before he sighed and set down the phone. Why was this so damn hard? It wasn’t like he’d care this much if this were some other student. Maybe it was because the new student Jesse ‘Brokeback Mountain’ McCree--as the kids had taken to calling him in light of the rumour about his sexuality getting around--didn’t know him fully. He had to uphold his reputation while simultaneously making his reputation known. Yes. That was it. 

There was a short tap on his bedroom door before Genji walked into the room, interrupting his train of thought. 

Hanzo looked up from the bed, moving his thumb away from the send button completely to avoid any accidental messages. “What do you need?”

Genji leaned against the door frame, reaching a hand up under his shirt to scratch at his now partially exposed stomach. “Dinner. I want to go get drivethrough from Chicken Fillet, but I can’t drive.”

He sighed softly. “Why don’t you get Dad so you can practise driving.”

There was a soft shrug before a slight shake of the head in response. It took a couple more fractions of a second for Genji to explain further, but he did. “I kinda got high with some buddies after school while I was waiting for you to stop sucking your teacher’s dick-”

Hanzo flushed at that, more out of anger than embarrassment or shame. He held his tongue though. 

Genji continued, apparently not noticing the slight change in hue of his brother’s face. “-So I kinda shouldn’t drive and I don’t really wanna see Dad. And did you really have to ask? I thought you told me I looked and smelled high when we got into the car.”

He set his phone down fully with a sigh and got up off his bed to find his keys, they of course would be somewhere on the floor after he unceremoniously tossed them there after coming home. “I did. That was more of a passive aggressive jab than a literal question. Go ask Dad for money and what he wants from Chick-Fil-A.” Of course Hanzo was the one to actually say the chain’s name correctly. 

The younger pouted, “I don't want to go talk to Dad. I already said that.”

“Tough titties. Go ask or you don’t get any food.”

“Can’t you do it? Please? I’ll do the dishes tonight even.”

ANother sigh, this one more full of contempt than anything, came from Hanzo as he moved past Genji, keys now in hand. “Grab my phone and go wait by the car.”

He gave a dutiful little nod to match his pleased little smile and stepped into action. 

After a short conversation explaining to their father that they were going to get food, and that no he as a gay man did not approve of supporting Chik-Fil-A and their homophobic tendencies, and yes he knew they were also involved in some shady overseas dealings, and no he didn't think they had sound business practices, but yes, Genji asked for it and their chicken is really good, Hanzo got the money and their father's order. 

He walked out to the car himself after slipping on his shoes. “Dad will just order pizza. I'll eat that too. But let's go.” Unlocking the car, he got into the driver seat. 

Genji followed suit, though with the passenger's seat and a phone in his hands. “You and Dad still on about your boycott?” 

“Yeah. It's just not a good business.” He fell into silence for the rest of the ride. His brother seemed fine with that, just texting away and generally having a wild time in a moving car while still on the last leg of his high. 

Soon enough, they were back home, this time one had a chicken sandwich. 

Once the brothers were out, Genji tossed Hanzo his phone. “Finished your conversation for you.” 

“Wha-” Almost as soon a the first sound was out of his mouth, he realized what it was about. His pupils shrank back into their recesses as he unlocked his phone to check on his unstated conversation with Jesse. 

There it was. Started and finished by his younger brother. He should have never told him why he needed the guys number in the first place.

‘Sup, its Hanzo. You free tomorrow.’ 

‘Uh yeah, I think I am. But listen, can we not talk about this? I'm at work. I get off in about an hour, we can talk then.’ 

Genuinely held absolutely no regard for that request seeing at the conversation continued. ‘You're probably wondering why I'm asking. Well, I really fucking suck at history, and Mr. Smith said you're really good at it.’ 

He double texted, ‘So I was thinking the obvious. You know. One plus one and all. Basically I'm saying we should set up a study date tomorrow. I'll even let you be the hot tutor.’ 

There was one last text from Jesse. ‘Are you inebriated? Or do you just have no filter. Anyway, please stop texting me for a bit, the notifications are distracting.’ 

‘Yeah okay. Just wanted to let you know that we should meet up later. I'll hit you up with the details later, hot stuff.’ 

He looked up from the screen, “Genji, what the hell did you do!” 

He turned around on the porch, “Got you further than you would have gotten yourself. You like him right? I can see why, he's weirdly cute and charming when he wants.” He turned again and walked into the house. 

Hanzo stayed outside, moving his gaze once again to the now dimly lit phone. He swiped his thumb over it to reawaken the screen. After a moment of thinking, he pressed the call button. That would be the easiest way to fix any misunderstandings, right? 

After what seemed like forever of waiting in the cool evening air, just listening to the dial tone, Jesse finally picked up. “Dude what the hell? I told you to stop fucking texting me so you call? You're lucky I'm on a smoke break.” He sounded significantly less charming than he ever did in school. 

Hanzo was silent for a moment, honestly a little put off by the abrasive greeting. “You smoke?” That was what he managed to choke out, of all things. 

“A bit. I'm not like a chain smoker, mostly at work so I can get brakes more frequently and all that. But anyway, what do you need. Make it quick before my boss sees.” 

“Where do you even work?” Again with the off topic questions. 

The was a sound on the other side of the line, maybe a cough, maybe a grunt of displeasure. “Okay, you need to stop with your attempts at flirting or whatever your texts and whatever this is. I'm not interested, and contrary to popular belief, I'm not into dudes. And again, I'm going to ask, are you drunk or high?” 

Hanzo frowned, though it wasn't seen by anyone now that Genji was inside. “No. Actually, about that, Genji was the one texting you on my phone as me. He's a bit high right now so I guess that's where some of that came from.” 

There was a small silence, probably one signifying he was taking in this new information. “That makes sense. He invited me to smoke with him after school. Does this mean you don't need history help?” He didn't wait for an answer, he just continued, “Makes sense, shoulda figured you're getting an A in that class too.” 

“No,” before he had a chance to hang up, he interrupted Jesse, “I really do. I just wanted to make sure you knew I wasn't just trying to be creepy like my brother made it out to be.” 

Another small silence. “Yeah okay. While I have a tiny bit of free time left, why don’t we just take care of this now. My house at ten? I’ll text you the address.’

“Yeah, that works.”

“Cool. Well bye now,” His voice grew softer as if he were moving his phone away from his face, but the line didn't die. “Hold on. I know that this is a hard concept for you and your brother to understand. But please do not contact me again. I am working. Just don’t.” He didn’t say bye again before hanging up. 

 

The next morning, Hanzo was woken up by his phone buzzing with a text notification from Jesse. All he included was an address and a little house emoji, probably to make him seem less emotionless. 

With a sigh, he rolled out of bed and moved to get ready. Within half an hour, he was at the address, trying to pretend he didn’t regret choosing his weekend bum clothes in his haze of sleepiness and laziness. 

But he did regret it. He regretted the way he looked with his hair carelessly falling around his face instead of pulled out of the way as it usually was, and a too small t-shirt that was probably Genji’s. His clothing choice filled him with anxiety. 

Well that and the fact that he had no idea if he was at the right place. Sure the house matched the address he was sent, but there were kid toys on the lawn and kid’s screaming inside. There was no way weird but somehow charming Jesse lived in a house like this. Right? 

Hanzo sighed and got out of his car. There was only one way to find out if this was the right place. He walked up the few cement steps to the wooden deck and knocked on the door. 

Several more kids shrieked, probably in response to his knocks, but no one swung open the door as if they were waiting for him. Why would they?

He pulled out his phone to check the time. Yep, it was just a little after ten. He was technically on time, but late enough that people would actually be prepared to greet him. And yet, there he was, waiting, forever alone on the woode--

The door swung open to reveal Angela Ziegler, the last year’s new student, with a screaming kid under her arm. She smiled broadly at her. “Hi! Can I help you?”

Of course this fucking wasn’t Jesse’s house. He seemed upset last night on the phone, so why wouldn’t he just give him someone else’s address. At least he got some other student’s address. But this was useless, Angela was equally shitty at American History. 

Angela cocked her head slightly, her smile turning more into a pout. “Hanzo.”

He refocused on her, heat rising in his neck. “Ah, I’m fine. I just got a bit lost and thought this was where I was supposed to go.”

“Oh? Where were you supposed to go? Maybe I can help?”

“Do you really know the area that well?”

Her pout only deepened. “I know the neighbor pretty well, and that’s what matters when you get lost. Where are you going?”

He put a hand to his neck and handed over his phone.

She took it with her free hand, barely glancing at the screen before smiling once again. “You’re at the right place. I’m not sure where Jesse is, but I’ll get him. Come on in.”

Hanzo nodded a bit but walked in tentatively. He toed off his shoes and looked around the main area as Angela walked in further. 

There were two younger girls playing minecraft on console, one young girl running around wildly, shouting for attention, the young boy she just set down begging one of the girls to blow up something the other just made, another boy playing on a phone, two girls on the couch playing a hand held console out loud then two girls at least ten years of age wrestling on the ground. God, this whole experience was just making it really clear that Hanzo had no way of gauging age. All he knew wa that he was at least five years older than everyone here and they were all very loud, what with at least three games being played out loud and two songs being played, and a few kids just screaming. 

He watched the scene of children and preteens for a moment as Angela disappeared then reappeared with Jesse in tow. “Here he is!” 

Jesse tilted his head towards Hanzo once he looked his way, “Howdy. You met Angela already?”

He nodded, “Like last year.”

He shrugged, “You never know. She told me she was popular at school, but who knows? She lies a lot.” HE spoke the last bit with an honest to god smile. It looked quite a lot like his other smiles, the ones he wore when talking to other students or teachers, but it reached higher and made Hanzo’s heart flutter all that much more. 

That part was still anxiety. Yes. 

Angela hit Jesse’s arm before the other could reply, “I do not lie! When do I lie!”

“When you said you could speak four languages.”

“I can! I already said that I can speak French, German, English and Romansh.” 

Off to the side, on of the girls spoke up, “She speaks French poorly…”

“But you can’t speak Swiss? Some Swiss girl you are.”

She hit him again, smiling too. “That’s not a language. Swiss people use languages from other places.”

“Even that last one you said? Romansh? Where’s that from? Romanshland?”

Another playful swat to the arm. “Except that. That one is made by the Swiss people.”

“Why don’t you backwards guys and gals call that Swiss?”

“Cause it’s stupid, just like you.” 

Jesse stuck his tongue out at her and looked to Hanzo, suddenly all too aware of the third person in the room anywhere close to his peer group. He ran a hand through his hair, “Anyway, I would take anything she says with a grain of salt. But where were we?”

He blinked slowly, “You tried introducing me to Angela then started flirting with her.”

His face fully flushed. His hands moved from combing his long hair back to being held in front of him in a form of surrender in a second flat. “No! We were not. Angela is not my type, she’s like my sister.”

With a smirk, Angela placed a hand on his shoulder, “Not your type? So, the rumour come out? Does Jesse is gay?”

He shrugged her off, “Fuck off. Why don’t you go stop Aleks from breaking Fareeha’s arm? You know Ana is going to kill Gabe is she does.”

She stuck out her tongue but left to go tear apart the two girls on the floor, who--in the time that the ‘flirting’ was taking place--had roped the running girl into being the referee for their impromptu wrestling match. 

With Angela, Jesse’s attention was more or less all on Hanzo. His seemingly impassive sent chills down his spine, but he stood his ground. Instead of stepping back under his apathetic yet threatening (he was just so tall) stare, he tried again to start a conversation. “Why are there so many kids here? Surely they’re not all yours?”

“Nah. Gabe watches kids whose parents work on weekends and after school because he has a soft spot for that. But really what that means is that our house has become the cool hot spot for kids to hang out at. I completely blanked on that fact when I invited you over. My room is quieter than down here if you want to study there, or we can go to the library.”

He shrugged. “I don’t think I’d get much out of studying this shit even if we were some place quiet.”

“You should at least try. Why do you hate history so much?”

“I’m bad at it?”

“If that were an excuse to hate things, than I would hate life.”

He huffed, “It’s just harder for me, because I learned Japanese history until I was eight or so, then I came over here, and you all have learned American history purely, so I’m put back eight years.”

“Oh, well that’s a good reason. I think you should just try to tie your previous knowledge to what you’re supposed to be learning. History has a global perspective. Should we find somewhere quieter now?”

“Sure, you can come over to my house. Do you need directions.”

He shook his head, “Naw, I’ve been there a few times. Let me just find Gabe and see if I can borrow the car.”

“No need, I can just give you a ride.” 

Jesse blinked slowly, his face a little more shocked than apathetic now. “Oh. Thanks. Let me grab shoes and we can get going.” 

He took off again, leaving Hanzo once again in a room full of kids and Angela, who had managed to separate the kids, much to everyone’s chagrin. The girl in purple who was playing got up and walked around, collecting bills from the older kids. 

Angela frowned at her, “How did you win the bet if they never even finished their match?”

“I bet that you would intervene.” She started to turn slowly, pointing at the kids, “And you all bet against me. Who's laughing now!”

Angela sighed as Jesse got back. 

“Okay, ready, we can go.”

Hanzo nodded and lead the way out of the house. Boy oh boy was he done being there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got into electroswing and started writing a dnd campaign, which is going to be fucking epic because its an entire nation with three plot lines and five to six regions, depending on how you look at it. That's up with me, now let's go into what's up with the characters. 
> 
> I wanted to make angela a transfer student, but they only stay for one term usually, so she's not. She's like a long term transfer studetn I guess, living in teh US for highschool but will definitely go to college in switzerland. always talks about how its so much better there. shes the only one who really gets Jesse, she makes him smile, listens to him, teases him, and is generally the mom friend. Especially since gabe stole her from Jack (who she's probably staying with) on weekends to watch kids who are just so rowdy. 
> 
> you can ask who all the kids in the scene were, i can probably name them, but boy oh boy. all the ages are augmented by twenty years like I said, so basically everyone. I dont think winston and zenyatta are in there, just because i didn't know how to portray them. (they were just playing outside. shhhhhhh) 
> 
> just for clarification, Idk what Gabe would do, but he would definitely do it from home. and teh shamadsa's fatehr loves his sons no matter what, but hanzo still feels the pressure to be perfect and resents genji for being the way he is, so careless and high.


	3. Memorizing Dates Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDITTED!
> 
> this chapter is really short. I guess I could have smashed it with the last one. oh well. not really much of a cute romantic study date anyway. 
> 
> a lot of the dialogue here is reinforcing what i say in the notes, just for people who dont read the notes. 
> 
> there are dragons in this, but they are weiner dogs based off a drawing done by iguana mouth, and jesse renames them based off a comic. hjesse is the tytpe to rename peoples pets for them.
> 
> im unhappy with a lot of the dialogue, but im tired. so here. if you really dislike it too, i might rewritre it. ive been known to do that.

Jesse took off his shoes one being let into the house without having to be asked, showing he really had been there. It was unnerving to think of such a thing since Hanzo had never personally seen him there. He said nothing though. 

Jesse started walking into the kitchen without being prompted or lead. As a result, he was immediately attacked by the family's three dachshunds. 

He just laughed it off and sat down to play with them, seemingly unaware once again that Hanzo was there. In his own house. 

The oldest dog climbed into Jesse’s lap. He just started rubbing his ears while the other two tried to jump into his lap for equal attention. “Ah look at you Spaghetti, look at what a pretty boy you are. I’ve missed you so much.” He leaned in to kiss his head, accenting that with an exaggerated, ‘Mwah’ sound. 

Hanzo frowned at the name. He snapped at the dogs, “Kara!” They scampered away but still lingered at the edge of the foyer, wagging their tails with enough force to make their long bodies wiggle. 

He walked over to Jesse and offered him a hand up.

He ignored it. 

Retracting his hand, Hanzo finally spoke. “They’re usually unfriendly, except to family and really close family friends. And his name isn’t Spaghetti or whatever you said. That’s Ichigo.” He started pointing at the dogs, “Then Nigo, then Sango.” 

“I know. Well, I knew that their names weren’t Spaghetti, Meatballs and Garlic Bread, but I like to call them that. And I already forgot their real names. Genji told me the first time I saw them, and they’ve never really been standoffish. I think that’s you, hun.” He smirked.

Hanzo frowned again but looked away. “I’m not standoffish. I just have nothing to say. But their names are Ichigo, Nigo, and Sango. It’s sort of a play on words. The way the names are spelled means something along the lines of Strawberry, After, and Coral. But if you were to use a different character, it would mean first, second, and third.”

He nodded, “That’s pretty cool actually. But I’m still going to call them Spaghetti, Meatballs, and Garlic Bread.”

He sighed, “You have the worst taste in dog names.”

“Your dog names are too complicated.”

“It was a family effort.” He started to walk away. “Should we study?’

“Sure.” Jesse followed him to the den along with the two older dogs. Hanzo got out a couple stacks of paper. The first was pristine and neat, not to mention completely void of writing. The second seemed to be a duplicate of the first, but filled in, and marked up with a red pen. Some of the pages were crumpled. 

“Basically, Mr. Smith said I could get my grade up if I made up these assignments. I don’t disagree that learning actual history would be useful, and I'm sure you could make it easy and all. But I’m going to be straight with you. Well, straight as I can be--”

He was cut off before he could get to the point. 

“Wait, you’re gay?”

God. Why couldn’t he fucking say one off handed thing about his sexuality without everyone making a comment or asking a question. He sighed. “Yeah, I know I don’t look gay and all that. But listen--”

Again, he was cut off. “Nah, I don’t give a shit about stereotypical appearances or behaviors of gay men. I’m just asking because you’re the one who started the whole low budget brokeback mountain bullshit.”

He tilted his head ever so slightly. “I didn’t start it.”

“Yeah, you fucking did?” HIs brows grew closer together as his apparent frustration grew. “First day I arrived you said something about me looking like I walked out of a porno version of Brokeback Mountain, which is bullshit because it’s already pretty pornographic. Guess what, fancy boy. That little comment of yours got the nickname going along with the whole ‘Is Jesse McCree gay?’ thing going. 

“Do you still really see sexuality as such a bad thing that you would start a rumour to try and hurt someone’s reputation or make them feel insecure? What the hell man.”

He held up a finger, “Now hold the phone. That’s pretty fucked up of you to assume. I am perfectly comfortable with myself, and I don’t need to justify shit to you. And besides, I didn’t even start that? If it started because of something I said to get my friend to laugh, that’s another thing. That’s an unintentional consequence.”

“You still are held accountable for unintentional consequences!” He raised his voice ever so slightly, but it seemed like a world of difference, especially considering his usual unvaried tone. 

“Says who!” Hanzo’s own voice raised in turn. 

Jesse was silent for a brief moment. Finally, he sighed and turned away from Hanzo, his voice lowering in volume again. “Let’s just do these worksheets, then I can go home.” 

Hanzo stared at him for a moment before reaching for a worksheet. “Yeah, okay. As I was saying, I think that the quickest way would for you just to tell me the answers and hope that something sticks…”

 

Before they had even gotten through the first module of the stack, Genji made himself known, the third dog trailing after him. 

“Hey Jesse. Didn’t know you were coming over here.” He walked briskly over to the couch and draped himself over Jesse’s lap, wrapping his arms around his neck with a cheeky grin. “It’s so weird to see both of you in this house at the same time. All my scheduling has gone to waste!”

“Hi Genji.” Jesse didn’t seem all that phased at the new addition to his lap; he just kept looking at the paper. “ Sorry to ruin your plans, but we had to do this. Hey, you hung over?” 

Hanzo bit the inside of his cheek, upset that Jesse would once again be distracted. This was really an awful tutoring session; his attention was constantly divided or off his pupil altogether! That was just ineffective, not to mention extremely rude. 

Genji seemed ignorant to Hanzo’s silent irritation despite being just inches from his brother. “Nah, I was high last night, not drunk, I thought I told you that. You don’t get hangovers from weed unless it’s heavy smoking. Plus, that’s just physical effects of doing something big without being used to it. If we go by that definition, than everything can have a hangover. Like, running a marathon or whatever. Anyway, no, I’m fine.”

The irritation only grew as he learned that they apparently had a conversation later that night. Why would Jesse talk to Genji and not him? They were both texting to him. The answer was clear to him, but he still didn't’ want to think about it, he knew that that would just make him more upset. Instead, he just kept penciling in answers to the best of his knowledge. 

“That’s good.” He fell silent, slinging an arm around Genji’s waist to keep him from falling off his lap. After a moment, he reached over to point at the paper, his hand just barely brushing Hanzo’s sending electricity up his arm. “That one should be Nixon. That’ sa famous event, can’t believe you don’t know Watergate.”

“Don’t want to know.” He muttered, shaking his hand to try and get rid of the remains of the electricity that shot up his arm at the brief contact. 

Jesse shrugged but kept supplying his answer. Genji stuck around too, eventually moving from Jesse’s lap to the floor with the dogs. 

Just as they were finishing up, Genji tilted his head back to look up at them. “Hey, Jesse. We’re having a party tonight, you should totally come.”

Hanzo frowned down at him, “Why the hell are we having a party?”

“Because I want to get drunk and party and Dad’s going out of town. Plus, you need to keep up your cool boy reputation.”

“Are you sure Jesse even wants to come?”

Jesse nodded, “Yeah, are you even sure I want to come?”

“Yeah, it will be cool. You’re getting along with Hanzo more than I’ve seen you get along with him in the past and you can make friends.”

His frown turned into something more of a pout, “I have friends. And I don’t not get along with Hanzo. I just don’t really have a reason to talk to him.”

“Angela and I are basically your only friends. You should make some more. Also, you should bring Angela.”

He shrugged, “We’ll see.” He stood up. “Text me if you need anymore help with history I guess.” He started to walk out of the house, apparently finding that odd moment in the conversation the perfect time to leave. 

He was back into the room a moment later, sighing. “I didn’t drive here. Can I get a ride back?”

Hanzo nodded and got up off the couch. There was really nothing else to say; Jesse already dismissed the entire concept of a party and most of the history homework was done. He just silently lead him outside to drive him home. 

After an awkward--and silent, (Jesse had told Hanzo that his music taste was uncharacteristic of his reputation and crass and barely music in general. And since Hanzo refused to listen to the country chanel, they rode in silence, both to and from the Shimada house.)--Hanzo stepped back into his own house only to be greeted by his dogs. It might just have been how he was feeling, but he could have sworn they were less excited to see him than they were to see Jesse. 

He sighed and walked into the living room where his now half completed stack of homework was. Genji was also there, his phone in his hands, probably texting someone or playing one of his cat games. 

However, when his brother walked into the room, weary sighs and all, he looked up. At least he was better than Jesse in that respect. “Sup? I already invited everyone in my contacts to tonight's party. You should do the same. And it’s BYOB, so you don’t have to worry about spending your nonexistent money on this party.”

Hanzo sighed once again and threw himself onto the couch next to his brother. “My money only doesn’t exist because I’m too busy doing extracurricular and getting good grades. You might have time for a job, but I can guarantee you, my scholarships will be more than what you earn.”

Genji stuck out his tongue, “Whatever. You gonna invite anyone?” 

He dug out his phone and handed it over. “You do it. I don’t care enough. How come you knew Dad was leaving tonight but I didn’t?”

He shrugged, “Probably didn’t want to worry you or something. In all honesty, I thought you knew too.”

They fell into a broken in silence, one that could be described as stiff had it been between any other two people. But with them, it was broken in by now, almost comfortable, almost threadbare. 

Another sigh passed Hanzo’s lips as he turned his head to face his brother. “Hey, why did you invite Jesse? Didn’t you say that you say that you knew I liked him or something? Aren’t you romantically interested in him too? You do know what will happen if he comes to the party.”

No matter which one of them decided to throw a party--though it was usually Genji-- it always ended up being Hanzo’s party. They had fallen into a silent pact that parties were for Genji to have fun, to get drunk or stoned, maybe find a casual hook up, and for Hanzo to uphold his reputation and status. Or rather, it was just to make sure the people he was forced to spend a lot of time with due to sports team configurations were still considered his friends. It still always turned into a showcase for Hanzo, and considering how he played the part and how people put him in the center pedestal during Shimada parties, he always ended up with a better standing rather than just upholding status quo.

“I vaguely remember that. But yeah, you totally have a crush on him, but I can see that you don’t want to admit it. I’m fine with him seeing you in the limelight. I want to have fun, and the way I see it, it’s evening the playing field. I’ve had a whole month of one on one time with him, I’ve invited him over when you’re gone, I’ve become his friend, made him laugh a genuine laugh. What have you done?”

He rolled his head over, letting the back of his head rest against the top of the couch, which admittedly made his neck bend awkwardly. He wouldn’t keep this up for too long. “I gave him a cruel nickname.”

“Wow. So you really do need this.” He was silent for a moment, probably texting a few people on Hanzo’s phone. “Basically, what I’m trying to say is that I want to even the playing field,. So that we both have an even chance at getting that hot southern booty. I already tried for a month, and I’ve decided that just taking him from you isn’t that fun. I want a challenge.”

“A challenge?” He scoffed as he used his elbow to push away fromt the back of the couch, effectively moving the weight off his neck as he did. “Please. If anything gets hard, you just quit.”

Genji ‘tsk’d, “There Has to be decent reward too. I’m not just in it for the thrill of the challenge. Anyway, I don’t think you should be questioning my madness. Just be glad I’ve giving you a fair chance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anyway, i just want to point it out that i dont speak japanese. as far as i can tell, kara, which is the romaji spelling, means away or off, so thats what hanzo yells. i spent liek fifteen minutes finding characters and puns to justify my choice of his dog/dragon names. and let me tell you. i do not speak japanese. also, a lot of this is lost in translation, because its certain characters that mean different things, but sound the same to us. so. sorry. 
> 
> EDIT: I fixed some of the dialogue so I wouldn't have to include it later, and I fixed some errors that were here. As you can see. I did no tfix the notes, because y'all can just be stuck with my cry/tired typing. Also, since this wasn't in the last version. (THERE IS A WHOLE NEW SCENE) it should be noted that the shimadas don't knoiw the difference between southern and westerrn. And Jesse listenss to country. Country is mainly a southern thing, but here in the west where I live, I know a lot of people who listen to country.


	4. Party Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHAPTER THREE IS EDITED there is a new scene in there, just in case you hadn't heard. it adds a bit to the story, i might reference it later. if you haven't read the may 2, 2017 build of chapter three go do that.
> 
> There is no party part two, i just wanted to write party part one, because its like alliteration, but with the first four letters of a word.
> 
> This chapter is description and monologue based. There is also quite a bit of alcohol drinking going on.. it is minors drinking it, which is illegal in the us , which is where this is set. it would be legwal for angela if she were still in switzerland. 
> 
> angela is featured in this one more too. shes kinda sassy, shes still very nice and caring, but she knows that shes her own person and gets tired when people just use her as a supporting characer. she also is a bit more rude when drunk. 
> 
> not a whole lot of jesse. he says two lines and is in two scenes. there is one scene with genji too. if you want genji centric, read the last two. that one developes the brotehrs relationship more.

True to Genji’s words, their father left shortly after dinner that Saturday night. However, his departure was completely unbeknown to Hanzo. This--just like Jesse’s life---was turning into something he was left out of but Genji was inexplicable a part of. However, this hurt him much more. How own father neglected to tell him he had a business trip?

His mind wasn’t caught up too long on the residual hurt and worry of his father’s departure. Because almost as soon as his car was gone from the driveway, people started flooding the house. Of course, in reality, it wasn’t as black and white as that, however, that was how it deemed to Hanzo. 

People just flooded his house and he was forced to smile, walk around with a solo cup of beer in his hand and make jokes. 

By the end of the hour, there were more people in their house than they invited, but that was fine. It was unspoken, but almost every Shimada house party was an open invitation, and anyone was welcome to bring anyone.Honestly, Hanzo didn’t know all of the people present, mostly he just vaguely recognized their faces from around the small school. 

Still, he knew that there was one familiar face missing from the crowd in his living room. Jesse wasn’t there. He didn’t know why he was even expecting him to show up, really. HE had already dismissed the very though of showing up. So why was Hanzo so disappointed?

 

He shoved those feelings to the back of his mind with an effective swig of the beer. It wasn’t strong--it was beer for pete’s sake-- but it did make him a touch drunker and all that more immune to these feelings of anxiety. 

Moments later, he knew he should have saved his swig for when something else happened, like the inevitable destruction of his property, or someone puking on the carpet. Yet, he wasted a sip of his liquid courage on someone not showing up. To add insult to injury, it wasn't even needed.

HE turned around, only to see Jesse walking towards him, Angela draped over his arm. Or rather, he was the one draped over Angela’s arm. She was dragging him over to Hanzo, a bright grin on her perfectly framed face. 

“Hanzo!” She waved at him to further grab his attention and stopped bounding towards him way closer than he felt should have been necessary, still holding onto Jesse, as if he would run away.

“Jesse told me you were having a party. Well, my friends also told me, but he told me first. Can you believe he wasn’t going to come to one of your parties? I told him he was crazy, because your parties are the only thing fun that happens around here!”

Jesse took er stillness as an opportunity to slide his arm out of her grasp and held it to his side. “Angie, you make it sound like I’ve just moved here. I’ve lived in this area long enough to know that the parties here are ‘wild’.” He held up his now free hands to put air quotes around the word wild. “I’ve heard Gabe complain enough about the noise over at the Amari’s.”

“Then you should have known to take Hanzo and Genji up on their invitation. Now you look just plain rude for turning them down and basically showing up unannounced.” She hit his shoulder lightly. 

He frowned at her, very much mirroring her own pouty expression. “I didn’t plan for it to go this way. Someone dragged me along.”

“Fine, well you can at least stop being so pouty. Jeez. Go drink a beer and hang out in the backyard with Hanzo’s mean dogs, that will make you happy, right?”

He lifted a hand again this time not to make air quotes, but to run it through his hair. He glanced from Angela to Hanzo and back. He looked so unsure of what to say or do. FInally, he spoke, “Yeah, whatever, I’ll go do that.” He glanced at Hanzo one last time, “Thanks for inviting us.” And off he went, grabbing a bottle of beer off the alcohol table. 

Angela turned to Hanzo, “Don’t mind him. He’s mostly just grumpy because I forced him here. DOn’t tell him I told you, but usually he goes to bed around this time. He’s really kind of a loser.”

Hanzo forced a smile and nodded, hoping it looked sympathetic enough, “What else are you to do when you’re alone?”

She shrugged, “I kind of feel like he’s choosing to be alone, especially now that he has every opportunity to live the stereotypical American high school life. I mean look at me! I’m participating in underage drinking, even though in Switzerland, this is totally legal. That really cuts down on the amount of teenagers dying from alcohol poisoning.”

Hanzo shrugged, “Maybe, but what am I to do about that?”

She tilted her head, letting her bobbed hair fall away from her face. “About Jesse being lonely or about the teenagers binge drinking because of the temptation of banned drinks?”

He gave her a blank stare for just a moment. “I don’t really think that I can do anything about either of those problems. I mostly asked hypothetically.”

“You can do something about Jesse’s loneliness! He’s kind of...guarded? No, that's not the right word. He’s very cautious of other people, I guess. But he really is sweet. You should try to be his friend, help him get rid of that ‘us versus them’ mentality.” 

He pursed his lips. “I’ll try. It hasn’t really gone so great so far.”

“He doesn’t hate you, if that’s what you mean. Anyway,” She raised her arms over her head and leaned back, effectively popping her back, “Enough talk about Jesse. This is a part, and I came here to party. Talking about my friends in an advice giving way makes me feel like I’m their mom and that I have no other redeeming qualities.”

“Oh, yeah. Kinda forgot about the whole party thing.” 

He shouldn’t have forgotten; it was rather hard to do so in all honesty. The electronic music that was flooding the room from a speaker in the corner of the room was pretty loud in this part of the house, and people were jostling him left and right. The smell of alcohol and sweat and perfume invaded his nostrils and clung to his very being. This was a party. And this was hard to ignore. 

“Go have fun!” He grinned one last time and waved her off. 

She beamed right back and lifted her arms above her head once again, though this time in celebration.

As soon as the conversation between Hazo and Angela came to an end via one of the parties, another one of Hanzo’s class mate’s stepped up to him to talk. He smiled at them too and stopped to chat. This kept happening until he was drunk enough to brush people off after just a word or two. Which meant he was drunk enough to realize there was really only one person left he really wanted to talk to.

He wove his way through the moving bodies from the kitchen back to the living room, the current dance floor and the most crowded room in the house. There he found Angela grinding up against someone Hanzo didn’t quite recognize, probably someone from the school the next town over. 

He grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him and away from her partner until she was close enough to hear hm, over the thumping music. “Hey, do you know where Jesse is?”

She shrugged, “Fuck if I know. I’m not his baby sitter. I’m my own person you know. Check outside.”

He rolled his eyes at the lack of help from the now tipsy Angela and made his way to the backdoor. It was simple enough to get outside. 

It was much quieter out there, now with an actual insulated wall separating him from the source of the music. It was less crowded too.The only people in the backyard, aside from the three dachshunds running around, barred from entering the house, were two teenage girls trying to win the dogs’ favor and get them to come over to the side of the gated area.  
They did come over to the side, only when they saw Hanzo. They threw their front paws up to try and get his attention now, finally tolerating the pat and attention from the now cooing girls. 

Hanzo, however, was not as happy as the dogs, seeing as he did not see what he wanted. He turned to the girls. “Was anyone else out here with you?”

One looked over at him. “Yeah, that new kid that looks gay. He was playing with the dogs but your brother came out here a minute ago to talk to him. I think they went to his room-if you know what I mean.” She accented her words with an eyebrow wiggle. 

Genji wouldn’t. Would he?

Before Hanzo had the chance to voice his disbelief at the alleged actions of his brother, the other girl spoke up, though not in the way Hanzo wanted. “What are your dogs’ names?”

“Ichigo, Nigo, and Sango.”

She frowned, “I could have sworn that cowboy guy called them something like spaghetti, linguini, and fettuccine.”

“Yeah, he’s an idiot.” HE turned to head back inside, but stopped himself and turned around again. “And he’s not gay.”

The first girl spoke again, “Wow, okay, Mr. Grumpypants-Chickenlegs.”

He rolled his eyes and moved back inside. Getting back into a crowded room was much harder than leaving it. That much was made certain to him, but somehow he did it. And somehow he made it upstairs to the hallway where the bedrooms were. The details were fuzzy to him considering how he was getting drunker by the moment, eve after he put down his drink. That’s just how alcohol works.

Still, despite being mildly inebriated, he took a moment to appreciate the silence of the hallway. Most of house was accessible to party-goers, with the furniture pushed aside to allow for more freedom. But, their father’s office and bedrooms were definitely off limits, and usually marked as such, whether with a sock on the handle, or locked door, or just sign with a frowny face on it The chance of destroyed property or sex in someone’s bed was just too great for them to risk.

Hanzo knew the hall was off limits for all guests. Genji knew that too. It was the most basic rule of Shimada Parties ™. Yet, against all common sense and previous knowledge, Hanzo couldn’t shake the suspicion that maybe Genji brought someone into his room. 

There was no official rule, really, just kind of spoken words that they agreed upon years ago when they first threw a party at the end of Hanzo’s middle school years. And there was nothing stopping genji from having sex i his own bed. Or just inviting someone in if he was supervised. Plus, from the sounds of it, Jesse had already seen the inside of Genji’s bedroom before. 

But still! There were rule, customs, ways of doing things. And that meant to guests in the bedrooms.

Still, Hanzo feared he was in there. 

Som, he walked to the end of the hall to Genji’s bedroom door. The door was still shut, and the sock was still on the handle. 

Not bothering to knock lest he make himself look like an idiot for knocking on the door to an empty room, he opened the door. There, pinning to the bed, with his fist tangled in Genji’s shirt was Jesse. Oh. And he just so happened to be locked in a kiss with said, green haired brother. 

Hanzo blinked slowly as he took in the scene in front of him. Neither of them seemed to notice him, so, just as swiftly as he had opened the door, he closed it.

He stood outside the bedroom door, his hand still on the handle for a while, still trying to process what happened. True, his reaction time was dulled, but he still knew what he saw He just didn’t know what it meant, or why it made his head pound and blood rush in his ears, or his vision shake and his gut knot up while his heart shot up into his throat making it hard for him to breathe. ‘

He leaned his forehead against the cool wooden surface of the floor in front of him, his hand still on the knob. What did this mean? What was going to happen now? Why was this happening? How what it happening? How could he make it stop.

Hanzo only knew the answer to the last question. Alcohol. 

Finally, he moved away from the door and went downstairs, hoping that someone brought something stronger than beer and was willing to share. Because for once, he felt like drinking something stronger than beer. He felt like drinking beyond drunk, like drinking to oblivion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again, i will say it, there is no part two. this is it. 
> 
> will things work out with genji and jesse? are they a thing now? will angela get that strangers booty? will hanzo do something embarqassing while blackout drunk? will we find out soon? find out next time, on 'leave your predictions/hopes for the future in teh comments'


	5. Where is Genji

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ther is like, three references to vomit in this chapter.
> 
> there is also a lot of progression towards the ultimate end game in this. a lot of the beginning was set up, this is it finally coming to light, this and the next chapter. 
> 
> im really tired right nwo, so im sorry if any of this seems ooc. but this, i swear, is what was planned frm teh start, and is actually was less ooc than what would hae happened had i been heavy handed in my efforts to get them together. 
> 
> im going to like a con? over the weekend. thirtysix hours of straight code and game developement. so im going to go do that. i thought i wouldnt get this chapter up until monday, the eights of may 2017, but i got it up. because i stayed up past wehn i normally go to sleep. so sorry if its real weird in teh second half.

Hanzo woke up with a splitting headache and a stomach still tied in knots. The last thing that he could honestly remember was that he had decided to drink himself to oblivion during the last leg of the party. But he couldn’t remember why he deci--

Genji.

He groaned and rolled over, only to fall off the couch and onto the litter covered floor. He wasn’t in his own bed?

Now being forced to actually stand up, and get up for that matter, he put a hand to his head. God, this was going to be awful. But, he was already up. So, no point in lying back down on the couch. 

He moved through the den, surveying the damage from last night as he did. In all honesty, it wasn’t that bad. There was the expected trash all around, probably some vomit somewhere, but nothing was smashed. After all, the only guests were podunk town high scholars--they weren’t vandals. 

He moved onto the kitchen. It was much the same as the sitting room, though with more solo cups and an overflowing trash can, with matching overstuffed trash bags hanging off a couple of chairs. 

Still, it wasn’t enough damage to warrant Hanzo getting mad, or for him to hurry and get on cleaning it up. No, right now, he would focus on getting breakfast for himself, maybe for his brother if he felt like it. As he thought about it, he realized he’d have to make food for three people if he made breakfast at all. 

His stomach soured at the though…. The thought of food. Because he was hungover. Yes. 

He had seen it all too often with his brother. Often times, the day after a party, Genji would be too hungover to fend for himself and need his brother to force him to eat and bathe and basically anything that required more than just sitting in bed, taking pain killers and complaining that he was too nauseated to eat. 

Now the tables were turned; all Hanzo wanted to do was take a painkiller and crawl into his undoubtedly clean bed, while Genji was probably barely hungover and having the time of his life, spooning someone in bed, still probably naked and vaguely sweaty from last night’s activities. 

Just thinking about it made Hanzo gag. No. This time, it really was his hungover body forcing him to throw-up. 

He lunged to the sink, making his head throb all that much more, and wretched into the basin. God. This was awful. 

Sighing, he moved to grab the bottle of generic, no brand painkillers from the medicine cabinet, only to notice that his father’s pill caddy was still on the bottom shelf. He frowned; usually his father’s business trips lasted a minimum of three days. And he knew that the older man could not go that long without his medication. Maybe this was just an overnight thing? Probably. 

Hanzo settled not to dwell on the subject to much and moved to get himself a glass of orange juice from the fridge. 

After taking the pills and drinking most of the juice, he headed upstairs, shuffling his feet to try and quell the pounding of his head. He prayed that he wouldn’t hear an encore of what surely must have happened last night, and that he could just lie down in bed until he felt good enough to go and shower. No matter how gross he felt in his sweaty, day old clothes, he wasn’t going to attempt to shower until he had slept for a bit more. 

Just as he was halfway up the stairs, his phone buzzed. With a stifled groan, he dug it out of his pants pocket. It was his father texting him. 

‘My hospital visit is going to run long, it seems. I will need you or your brother to bring me a few things. Is this okay?’

Hospital? Didn’t he say that he was going on a business trip. No. That was only Genji.

Now frowning, Hanzo shoved his phone into his pocket and walked past his bedroom to Genji’s. Once again, he didn’t bother knocking. He didn’t care if he was going to see his brother naked with another man, he just wanted answers, and he was hungover and pissed enough to witness such a scene to get that. 

Surprisingly, the scene that laid before him once he opened the door wasn’t one that told of past smut, but rather one that told a story Hanzo didn’t quite understand. The room was empty.

Hanzo frowned at the empty room. Maybe they went back to Jesse’s place? 

Still frowning, he walked away from the slightly messy bedroom and went to his room. Well now that he knew his brother was missing, there was no chance for him to nap before going out. He had to find him, and apparently, he was the only one in the house to bring the pill caddy to their father. 

He threw his head back and groaned loudly at the unfairness of it all, before heading to his room once again to grab a clean pair of clothes.

After showering, letting in the three dogs, who, regrettably, had to spend the night on the back porch, and feeding who ever was in the house (Again, just the dogs), Hanzo was on his way to get Genji back. 

The first place he went after cleaning himself up, was the McCree household. Well, he would have thought that the house would be considered the McCree household, but the name on the door read ‘Reyes’. Again, the thought ran through this mind that he might be in the wrong place, but he shov ed the thought to the back of his mind. This was the right place. 

He forced himself up the last step and knocked on the door. There he was forced to wait for a few minutes before he heard the slapping of bare feet on the hardwood floor he knew was behind the door. 

Moments later, Jesse opened the front door to the house, clad in only a towel wrapped around his waist. His hair was dripping wet as well. He probably was just coming back from having shower sex with Genji. 

Once again Hanzo’s stomach turned sour. He barely had enough time to lean over to the flower bed before he puked again.

He could hear Jesse inhale sharply through his teeth as a form of audible wincing. 

“Wow, I was just about to say you look really good for being totally hammered yesterday, but now I don’t think so.”

He righted himself on the doorstep, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand as he did so. “No, I’m fine. It’s just bile. It would be worse if I had actually eaten something for breakfast.”

He raised a brow, “You didn’t eat breakfast? You’d actually feel better if you did. Do you not know how to take care of yourself when you have a hangover?”

“This is my first major hangover.”

Jesse frowned, “Why don’t you come on in, I’ll make you breakfast.”

He shook his head, “No, I don’t need handouts or anything. I just need to collect my brother and go.”

This time, Jesse tilted his head as a reaction, “Your brother? I’m afraid your mistaken if you think he’s here. I don’t know where he is.”

He groaned, “Do you have any idea where he might be?”

He righted his head and shrugged, “No idea. I think you should stop stressing about Genji, he’ll come back home when he does. You should worry more about yourself.”

“I can’t do that right now.”

“Sure you can. Lemme help--lemme make you breakfast, or at least have you sit down for a bit.”

He looked him up and down again, more for effect, not to let his eyes linger on his lean body. Well, maybe just a bit. Now that his stomach had settled--probably from throwing up the rest of the contents in his stomach and not from learning Genji didn’t have a one night stand with Jesse--he could take in the scene before him a bit more. Jesse still was as skinny as he looked under neath his usual cowboy garb, but he was more toned than he though. And he had the barest hint of a happy trail leading to something below his towel, though not much more hair on his body. 

Hanzo could feel his face heat up greatly as he forced his eyes to trail back up to his face. “I guess so. But you have to put on clothes. I can not take you seriously this way.”

It was Jesse’s turn to blush. “I will! I just thought you were a postman or salesman. Usually answering the door like this scares this away… and there was no one else home to get the door…” As his vice trailed off, he stepped away from the door to let Hanzo in. 

He stepped into the house, shucking off his shoes as he did so. “No one else is home, where are they at?”

“Gabe and Sombra go to church on Sunday mornings. I don’t really know why... I mean, Gabe is a gay, single man and Sombra doesn’t care. I think he just got used to it growing up, and wants her to have a good influence in her life while she’s still young.” He started for the stairs, “Why don’t you make yourself comfortable, and I’ll go change.”

Hanzo moved to the nearby, visible couch, unsure as he did so. How could Jesse do such a complete 180 from yesterday, where he could barely look him in the eye and wouldn’t give him the time of day. Now he was openly making conversation--and about his family life no less!--as well as offering to make him breakfast. What changed between them?

He frowned and stopped just before he sat down, turning completely around to face Jesse who wasn’t all the way up the stairs. “Why are you being so nice?”

He paused on the stairs, leaning back some to look at Hanzo unobstructed by the stairwell wall. “Huh? You don’t recall? Never mind, that’s a stupid question to ask. Gimme a second to put some clothes on.” With that, he started to leave again, not really bothering to explain more than he already did. 

Hanzo’s frown dipped from a mere frown of frustration to a full on scowl “Hey! You didn’t answer my question. That’s--you just said some generic, stereotypical bullshit.”

He heard a faint ‘Yep’ as Jesse continued on to his bedroom, probably to put on clothes. 

He was doomed to sit in silence with his own unanswered question and now apparent holes in his memory for a few minutes until Jesse got back. 

When the other returned, he sat up straighter, crossed his arms, and resumed scowling. “What do you mean ‘you don’t remember?’ Did we have a bonding moment last night while I was drunk? Did I confess my undying love for you or some other bullshit? Or worse, did I cry about my dead mother like we’re in some bullshit, highschool romance movie?”

“Well first off, do you want some breakfast? Second, no, we didn’t have a bonding moment, because that implies both parties grew closer, and you don’t remember shit apparently, so no, no bonding moment. No confessions either, though I’m flattered you apparently have some feelings of undying love towards me--”

He, of course, was cut off by Hanzo at that point. “No, I don’t have undying love feelings towards you. I just wanted to make sure that I didn’t say anything stupid like that in my drunken haze.”

Jesse rolled his eyes, “Thanks for interrupting there but not answering my first question. The offer is still up, I’m still willing to feed you. You know, actually eating something will make your headache go away a lot faster.” He stopped himself that time, giving Hanzo more time than necessary to answer. Though he seemed to need it all, as he just seemed content to stare angrily at him for almost a minute straight. 

Eventually, he did, his voice more meek than it had been since he got there, the anger and demand brought on by the pain and frustration now seeping out of his attitude. It was almost as if the calm emotions flowing from the taller were replacing all of his original feelings with the prolonged silence he forced upon them. “Yeah, okay. I’ll take some breakfast.”

Jesse nodded and started towards the kitchen. “Anything in particular you want, or are you fine with eggs? And where was I?” HE paused for a bit, allowing a small space for another answer before continueing his previous soliloquy. “No, you didn’t confess anything, and no you didn’t cry about any dead relatives or other family issues. Well. You did go off about Genji a whole lot. I’m not sure if you didn’t have anyone to talk to about this before hand, but you sure did have a lot to say about him. Is everything okay between you and your brother?” Another long silence followed.

Hanzo got up off the couch and trailed after Jesse into the kitchen, where he sat at the kitchen table. “Yeah, I’m fine with eggs, I have no preference. And things are fine between me and my brother. I like to think we keep each other in check, and I’m actually closer to him than I am to a lot of my friends. We share no common interests, but we can talk about things more freely, you know. But of course, I still have negative feelings about some of the things he does.” He paused, though he kept the silence short enough that Jesse couldn’t jump back in. “You should know how this is. You have a sibling.”

“Yeah, but she’s ten and my adopted sister. If it’s not clear by now, I don’t know what a good nuclear family is supposed to be like. I literally have nothing to go on to judge if your relationship with your brother is healthy or not, but if you say it’s fine, I’ll believe you. I’m not going to jump into your family business.”

He snorted, “Good, that’s a little too cliche for me, especially after we apparently spent the entire night talking about my brother.”

Jesse cocked his head, “No. You just kind of got pissy and were talking to anyone that would listen. When I came out of Genji, people were kind of avoiding you, because you stopped being the happy, kind of fun guy to be around.

“That make sense, because I feel like being heavily inebriated makes people’s true colors show. And you just so happen to be an anxious and angry person who’s upset about his brother. 

“Anyway. Genji left after…” He made a vague hand gesture, “And people started leaving too, and I figured you were going to be alone, intoxicated. I stuck around, you talked to me about all the shitty things Genji did recently, and also about how you thought I was charming, but I don't think that’s a love confession, if you were worried. I was waiting for Angela mostly, because I was her ride home, but I felt I should stay with you, stop you from drinking more and dying or some shit. I figured Angela went home with someone, so I left after you fell asleep.”

Hanzo nodded and leaned back in his chair. “Well, I’m glad nothing too ad happened. My reputation will suffer a bit, but that’s fine… But why do you feel that’s a reason to become more familiar with me? You’re no longer treating me like your friend’s brother or like a classmate.”

He shrugged as he walked over with a plate of eggs and toast. After he set the plate of breakfast food down, he sat perpendicular to Hanzo at the table, placing his elbows on the clean, wooden surface. “I don’t know. Just seeing you sort of vulnerable and without your stupid jock facade on made me like you more. Like, it made me realize you’re forcing yourself to be relatable and well liked by the people around you. You're more original than I thought.” He gave a small smile, one that hurt Hanzo’s heart in more than one way.

Despite his rapidly beating heart, he groaned at that. Loudly. “Jesse. That is the most cliche thing you have said today. This morning is starting to feel like a Disney movie original. Please try to understand me when I say that the us versus them mentality i utter bullshit. I am not a special snowflake. If I, a jock, can be original and special, then everyone else can too. Leo plays a few different instruments and wants to start writing his own compositions. Ethan is really into slam poetry and wants to draw political cartoons. Matthew speaks french and grows cacti from seeds. All of us are special. All of you, Genji, Jesse, Angela, the outsiders as you perceive them, are also special. None of us are the same, and none of us can be clumped into neat little boxes. We choose to hang out with the people we are in clubs with, because that is who we spend the majority of our time with, but that does not mean that we have a certain way of seeing the world, or only one interest or archetype.”

Jesse’s smile fell away, “Allright, fair point. But the fact still remains that seeing you stupid drunk made me reevaluate how I saw you…” He moved to get up from the table, pushing himself off the table and inadvertently leaning in close to Hanzo’s face.

Naturally, Hanzo’s face heated up as he was all too aware of the closeness. The closeness of their bodies, and of their lips. He closed his eyes, hoping he wasn’t subconsciously moving forward in real time as he couldn’t help but think of Jesse’s lips, their thin, slightly chapped image floating through his mind in slow motion like a stupid romance scene in one of those animes Genji watched. 

All of a sudden, as if putting two and two, the image in his mind changed from just Jesse’s lips, to Jesse’s lips interlocked with someone else’s. Genji’s. 

Hanzo stood up quickly from his seat, knocking said chair back and smashing his head into Jesse’s chin as he did so. It wasn’t his fault the other was moving so slow. 

“I’m sorry,” He wasn’t sure if he was sorry for what he was about to do or for what he already did. Or if he was just saying so because of years of it being drilled into his head. “I have to go and find my brother now. He really needs to come home. It’s family matters, but I need to get going.” 

He didn’t have time to spare, he decided. He had no more time to sit around and eat pretty boys’ food or think about those pretty boys’ lips or how those lips had touch his brother’s. THat thought alone made him not want to eat any food, no matter who had prepared it. 

Without waiting to see Jesse’s reaction, he rushed out of the house, barely stopping to shove his feet into his tennis shoes, which ultimately smashed the the back of the shoe into the sole. He had to get going, he decided. He had to find Genji and get answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> an d let e just tell you. jesse learned everything he ever did know about highschool from disney movies. he has realized he is the cute uirkey girl who gets the jock despite his nerdy friend who is better suited for him having a crush on him
> 
> please review. tell me what you liked. tell me what you thought aboutthe chareacterization or how you think this was ooc and how this could be better. give me suggestions, or predictions for the future. tell me how thi smade you feel. tell me what this reminds you off. write a book report on the first five chapters of this and do one of the book report art projects oulined in teh syllabus i handed out to all of you on the first day of fanfiction class, i want this all on my desk monday mornig pleas. e
> 
> weird side note, i made a speedpaint type esque video of me writing the beginning of this chapter, but tht does have my outline for this chapter in it,, which alludes to something if you havent already guessed it.


	6. Genji Come Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess this doesn't really explain where Genji was during the last chapter. He was bonign someone because he was lonely and sad from being rejected. 
> 
> There is a bit of violence in this chapter, but it's not really graphic.

Hanzo ended up checking almost every one of their mutual friends’ houses. No one had seen or hear from Genji since last night. According to a few witnesses, he had come back downstairs after almost a full half hour of being alone with Jesse and refused to talk to anyone about it. Not that anyone was really asking. A few of the more bold or curious people did, but not many people were too eager to get into the personal lives of the Shimada’s. 

The bottom line still was that no one knew where Genji was. 

Hanzo ended up waiting at for several hours until his younger brother arrived home. 

It was just after noon when the boy with green locks reward his head, not quite stumbling in through the door, but definitely not elegantly waltzing in. No matter how he walked in, he definitely did walk straight into Hanzo’s carefully laid trap. 

Which was to say he walked into the foyer where he was sitting. 

“Genji, where the hell were you?” Of course he started scolding him immediately.

He squinted at him, a small frown painted on his face. “I was out. Can this wait a few minutes? I want to take a shower. Also, what the hell? You aren’t dad, you don’t really get to know where I was or why.”

“Dad’s in the hospital, so I think I’m a pretty good substitute at the moment.”

Genji’s eyes widened a bit, or rather, he just stopped squinting. Regardless, no matter how one looked at it, he had an expression of gentle surprise on his face now.

Hanzo scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest more firmly as he did so. “Oh, you look surprised. Maybe it’s because you still expected me to think Dad was off on a business trip, and I’d only learn about his trip to the hospital when he came back safe and sound this morning? Or maybe your surprised that he’s still three, because guess what Genji, he didn’t come back safe and sound.

“And because I didn’t know that he was going to the hospital in the first place, I had to take Dad’s medication to him while severely hungover, after searching for my stupid, missing younger brother for hours, because he left and didn’t tell me where the hell he was going. And now I have to clean the fucking house up in a few hours for when Father gets home. That is, if he gets home today.”

His brother's frown deepened. “I didn't tell you that he was going to the hospital for an overnight procedure because I knew you would freak out and demand that no one leave the house or throw a party. Dad even asked me not to tell you because he didn’t want you to needlessly stress out.”

“Well now I’m needlessly stressing out because my stupid younger brother put me in a compromising situation and now I’ve been informed that my father’s health is worse than I thought it, worse than even the doctors though because his stay is extended! And no matter what the circumstance, throwing a party while Father is out is stupid. We’d have to clear up early in the morning in order of the house to be put back together in time for him. And you can’t leave when he’s in poor health. I need you here just in case things take a turn for the worse.”

Genji ran a hand through his hair, probably a habit he unintentionally picked p from Jesse. “You keep calling me stupid younger brother, but what about you? Huh? Do you actually believe that you can control the outcome of anything by forcing all of these restricting rules upon me? You are not my keeper.”

He groaned. “I keep fucking telling you that the person who said that in the bible went to hell. You have to be aware of your brethren according to Christian values. But that’s not the point! I just want to be able to control the consequences, or at least limit the damage life can deal, I don’t want to control life itself.”

“Oh yeah? Well it sure doesn’t seem like that, stupid big brother.”

Hanzo’s eyes slid shut and his jaw clenched as he tried to control his anger. “The only way I could be considered foolish, would be if I were to ever believe you or your lying mouth again.”

“You’re already foolish for believing that Jesse could ever love you. Or that he would ever choose you over me, even when given equal opportunity to get to know us. Face it, Hanzo, you already know that no matter how hard you push yourself to be socially flawless with all of your hobbies, everyone will always like me more. I don't have to try to be liked, and that just eats you up inside.

You’re a fool already, brother, your pride just keeps you from seeing that and that makes you even more foolish than you can even begin to perceive.”

He set his jaw, “You need to seriously reconsider your choice of words?”

“Or what? Will you get drunk off your ass again and complain about me to all of our mutual acquaintances? Do you know how embarrassing it is to have people contact me directly and ask me if everything is okay between us? You’re ruining my life!”

“Oh you think that this is ruining your life.” He didn’t know what happened, but something inside him snapped. The only way to describe what happened, would be to say that he lunged at his younger brother, his hand curled tightly in a fist.

Genji was caught off guard, to say the least. He barely had time to react and put up his guard. 

A pretty large fight happened next. Normally, fights between two teenage boys were pretty destructive, but both of the Shimada brothers were both trained in martial arts. 

The room would have been put in disarray had it not already been disheveled from the party. In the end, Genji ran away. Literally. He managed to pull away from the fighting and head for the door, his nose dripping blood the entire way. 

Once alone, it took five minutes for Hanzo to calm down. He stood there, just breathing heavily, uncurling his fists and trying to ignore the crescent shaped marks he probably left in his palms. He ached all over, bruises would surely show up sooner or later. But at least nothing was broken as far as he could tell. 

He looked around the room before sighing and moving to start cleaning up. There was nothing else to do but to wait for Genji to come home. Again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, LOL, its a fight. Ive found in m,y personal experiences a big fight usually opens people up to change. ITs an explosion of suppressed emotion ad they are sort of forced to look at why it happened and all f it.
> 
> Please comment. Only two people ever dcomment on this, and its making me feeling really down. One of them is literally my sister who I made read my fanfictiopn, so. I kind of want to hear from all of you. But that is not to say I don't love and appreciate the people who do calready comment. Just that I will love your comment no matter what you say.


	7. Words of Advice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> contains some harmful language. i dn't think it's slurs, but i wrote this a while ago. its only in the beginning, and its hanzo's inner monologue, so it includes vocabulary he picked up during his time as a jock. reference to drug use and underage drinking.
> 
> i have been writing this for like a month. and i decided to split the chapter in two to post this in time for my sisters birthday. no., not for my sister who plays overwatch and is reading this... i wrote the bulk of this on my first sisters birthday in hopes this could be her birthday gift, but i didn't finish it. But i finished it on my second sisters birthday, who also plays overwatch and is too young to be reading this fanfic, Don't do it. NAd maybe ill get the next chapoter up in time for my third sisters birthday who doesn't play overwatch but last i checked, she as reading my fanfic, 
> 
> anyway, happy birthday to all my sisters in the mointh of may 2017, and happy birthday to you, reading this now. even if it isn't your birthday, that's all your getting from me.

Genji didn’t come back. Hanzo waited a whole week, and he wasn’t back. He wasn’t at school and he didn’t come home. Their father did, however, and stayed there. He remained on bed rest for the remainder of the week. 

No one said anything about Genji’s absence. Not their father, not Jesse, not any of their mutual acquaintances or teachers or anyone. Especially not Genji. He didn’t call or text, and he certainly didn’t pick up or respond. As far as anyone could tell, he just didn’t exist anymore and never had. 

Or that’s how it seemed until Monday morning. Monday morning--the second after Genji's running away--Hanzo’s first period teacher looked at him odd after calling his name for role. “Hanzo…. You’re brother hasn’t been in for a while now. I don’t appreciate him skipping my fourth period. Is there anything you can do?”

He could feel the eyes from his peers bore into him, even Nate and Jessie stared at him intently. The whole room held their breath in anticipation. 

“I can’t do anything. What he does doesn't really concern me anyway.” He rested his chin on his hand, trying to look aloof like he didn’t care. In reality, he was trying to ignore the stares ad trying to to shake or cry like some pussy.

THe teacher frowned, “That’s not true. You actually have a bit of influence over him. You’ve brought up his attendance in the past just by talking to him. Could you try talking to him again?”

He looked away from the teacher, taking a moment to actually answer her. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Why not? You didn’t even try.”

“That’s because…” He set his jaw again and stood up, just fed up with this day already, end up with this week. “I don’t know where the fuck he is. I don’t know why he left I don’t know where he is and I don’t know how to get him to come back to school. Any ore questions you want to ask about my home life or my brother? Anything else you want to add about my family life? Another way you want to make everyone here question how well things are working out of rme and my brother?”

“Hanzo--” She tried speaking gain but he just cut her off. 

“No. I don’t want to fucking hear it.” He started walking out the door. No one stopped him; he didn’t even hear whispers about how he was clearly having a mental breakdown at just the mention of his brother. 

He did, however, hear another scuffing of a chair against the already worn linoleum of the school as someone got up from their desk toc oem after them, probably to get him to come back to class. He already knew what ever they were going to say wasn’t going to work. 

Hanzo didn’t look back as he made his way out of the school. He could hear the hurried footsteps of whoever was following him. Eventually, someone caught up and stood beside him just as he reached the parking lot. It was none other than Jesse McCree himself.

“So, are we ditching school today?”

He frowned at him, ‘What are you doing here? “ As far as he knew, while they were now on good terms, he had done nothing to make them actively amicable towards another.

He shrugged. ‘I’m always looking for a reason not to go to school And honestly, it looks like you shouldn't be alone right now.”

He was silent, taking a moment to sigh wearily and let his shoulders droop. “I’ll be fine. I’m just going to go--” He stopped himself. He wasn’t going to go anywhere. Where would he go? Home? To his father? And tell him he had a mental breakdown and stormed out of class? That was not happening. 

“You were just going to go home? Sounds likely. Wanna come over to my place?”

He shrugged, “I don’t think i’d be comfortable there…”

“Yeah. We just aren’t at that level yet where we can just go to each other's houses.” He was silent for a second more. “Would you like to go to Jack’s place?”

“What the hell? Why? What would that do for me? Who the hell even is jack?”

“Oh, yeah, guess you don’t really know. I keep forgetting your experiences ad Genji’s aren’t the same. He’s met Jack.”

Hanzo scoffed loudly. “Yeah, of course he has.” 

Jesse rolled his eyes at that comment, “Anyway, Jack is Gabe’s boyfriend, he has Angela living with him. And if I’m not mistaken, he also currently has Genji living with him. He’s always complaining about Angela’s freeloading boyfriend hanging out and not even going to school. He doesn’t make him leave because he’s afraid that he was kicked out.”

Hanzo once again jumped in, “He wasn’t though! He left because he wanted to!”

“I know.” He put a hand on his shoulder, “Calm your tits. I never said that I thought that Genji was kicked out. Even though you two are very different, it’s not like you would kick him out, or kill him or anything.”

Hanzo sighed and almost shrugged off Jesse’s hand before thinking twice of it and letting it stay. He was too upset about his brother to even think about trying to distance himself from the least social person in the school. Or the fact that some charming boy was totally feeling up his muscles. Okay, he wasn’t doing that, but his hand was right there… if Hanzo just happened to flex, then--

No. He was still too hung up about his brother to flex. So, he sighed instead, letting Jesse’s hand remain on his shoulder without giving it anymore though. “I don’t even know if I want to see him.”

“I think you should, work out your differences through words and all. I mean, you had a pretty big fight for him to leave, right?’’

Hanzo shrugged, moving his dejected gaze to l=tarte at the concrete beneath his feet without another word.

Jesse finally moved his hand at the up and down movement of the others shoulders. It seemed he wouldn’t get much more out of him. He was content to just let the two of them just stand there without saying anything for a moment more, but he did eventually say something. 

“Okay,s o ewe don’t have to go to Jacks and see Genji, and I don’t think we’re going to go to your house. So do you want to go get some food then go to my place? Gabe’s home and could give you some stern fatherly advice if that’s what you so desire.”

“Sure whatever, that sounds fine. Whatever gets me out of this damn parking lot the quickest.”

He nodded and started walking away. “Did you drive? You want to take your car or mine?”

Hanzo shrugged again.

Jesse nodded again, “Cool, we’re going to take mine.”

He walked off in the direction of the Reyes family car. They got into the tan minivan and drove off. 

Almost half an hour later they walked into Jesse’s house, bags of fast food in hand. 

Jesse called out something in Spanish--It sounded Spanish but his accent was still rather Southern--before leading Hanzo to the kitchen. 

Just as they sat down, a man, presumably Gabe, joined them. He nodded at Hanzo as a form of greeting, “So this is Hanzo?” He followed his question up with a short sentence in what was probably still Spanish. 

Jesse responded. Their back and forth went a little bit before Jesse broke it.

“Es….es..” He snapped as if that would help him recall the word. “Fuck, don’t know the word.”

“I couldn’t really understand half of what you said anyway, you’r accent is awful,” He spoke with a grin despite his words. “Just say it, who cares if he gets upset.”

Jesse side eyed Hanzo but shrugged and spoke, once again in English. “He just couldn’t handle anymore school is what I’m trying to say. And we’re here now. I figured you’d be okay with it.”

“I am. Just out of curiosity, what was the word you didn’t know?”

“It doesn’t matter right now, I’ll tell you later.”

Gabe shrugged and turned to Hanzo, “Anyway, how are you Hanzo. Heard you left school because of your brother.”

He frowned at the older man, “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t talk about me right i front of my face.”

“Would you rather we talk about you behind your back?”

He shrugged, “Maybe. Can we just avoid talking about me all together?”

“Sure. Just be glad that my daughter isn’t here. She is actually fluent in Spanish and not learning it by force of being in a house with people who actually know more than one language.” 

Jesse shrugged, “I only learn from necessity, what can I say.” 

Gabe shrugged, “You can say why you learn so much about history then. I don’t know what’s necessary about that.”

“It’s necessary to my well being?” He tried with a grin.

That seemed to be an acceptable answer seeing a Gabe smiled back with a low chuckle. “That’s fair enough. Anyway, Hanzo, you going to go get your freeloading boyfriend out of Jack’s house and finally stop what surely must be a sex marathon for Angela?”

Hanzo groaned before thinking his head onto the marble countertop in front of him. “I would rather not think about my brother or who he is banging.”

“Okay, I can understand that. But surely your father is worried. And Jack has had about enough of Genji. He has too much of a pure heart but too short of a temper. And you still have unresolved issues right? You should at least go and talk to him. You can bring Jesse along as a buffer.”

Jesse seemed to whine, “Hey, Boss, you can’t just volunteer me for things.”

Hanzo pulled his head up from the counter top and tilted it in slight confusion. “I knew you called him Gabe in private, and I thought that was an edgy teenager thing, refusing to acknowledge authority. But you don't call him dad?”

He shrugged, “He doesn’t like being called Gabe, but I won’t call him dad if I still remember my actual father.”

Gabe shrugged, mirroring the actions of his adopted son, “Anything but Gabe is fine with me. I personally believe that if you’re not alder and you don't make more money than someone, you shouldn't call them by their first name.

“But that’s besides the point. You should take Jesse and go get your brother. I’m used to this being my quiet time anyway and would honestly rather see you out of my house.”

“That’s rude,” Jesse chided. His scolding probably fell on deaf ears. 

“It’s true.”

Hanzo huffed slightly, “With all due respect, Mr. Reyes, I think I’d rather take advantage of your hospitality some more. I am not in the mood to talk to my idiot brother, and I am certainly not going to talk to hi with Jesse around. He’s what started part of this, and Genji is probably just going to pin him against the wall and kiss him again. Frankly, I would not like to see that.”

“Hey, just so--” his father cut im off. 

“That’s fine. But you may want to consider one reason your relationship with your brother is rocky is because you call him stupid. But I won’t force you to go over to the Morrison’s. I will, however, go back to work. Make sure you pick up Sombra after school and don’t make a mess of the house.”

Jesse gave him a fake salute, “You got it.”

Once the older man left, he turned to Hanzo. “Alright, so we got food, got away from school, and got confirmation that Gabe is going to let you stay here. What do you want to do now?”

He shrugged, “Not worry about anything. What is the most mind-numbing activity one can do?”

“Drink beer and play video games? Maybe get high?”

“That sounds pretty good.” 

Jesse nodded and stepped into action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we get to see genji soon, dont worry. sorry that might be a spoiler. 
> 
> while in my month of writing this, my sister (second or fourth, unmentioned sister. i have a lot of sisters. ~~im a nun(~~ ) went to see a youth fiction authour. and i said i was a better writer than him so what do you guys think, am i better than james dashner or william shatner, or whever it was? I actually like james dashner, ant remember who william shatner is. But am i better or at least on par with some published authors?
> 
>  
> 
> answer that question, or leave questions of your own, like hwat job does Gabe have. we still dont know,. or leave a comment,. i just love talking. so manny of you responded o my plea of desperation last time and it made me so happy. my eyes were constantly welling up. i live off of attnetion, and i just like knowing you guys are actually there. it really does mean so much when you comment.


	8. Decisions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you might have noticed, the chapter count once again changed. because we're off script baby. i don't know what i'm doing. it's like i saw a cool ramp on the side of the road and took it instead of staying on the road like the gps wanted. well now the car is burning and i am dead. 
> 
>  
> 
> this chapter contains references to drinking and marijuana.

Hanzo did end up drinking the beer and playing video games, but he shunned the offer of marijuana. That just wasn’t the life he was about. But he did want to get tipsy, just to dull the edge of life. So, he did, or rather they did; Jesse was also drinking beer and playing Super Monkey Balls.

It was all well and good until someone knocked on the front door to the Reyes residence. For a split second, fear coursed through Hanzo’s veins. Had school gotten out? Had his father noticed he wasn’t home and now he was coming to get him? And now he’d see him half way to sort of drunk and ditching school? What would his father think of him in his hypothetical scenario? But, he realized school hadn’t gotten out. Jesse hadn’t gotten up to get his younger sister; something he knew was going to happen soon because he stopped sipping the beer an hour ago. 

Jesse glanced to Hanzo, also confused at the knocking of the door. “We didn’t order pizza did we? No, that’d be odd…” He trailed off and pushed himself up off the floor to go answer the door. 

Gabe, which was quite a feat. He had to speed walk from his office in the back of the house to the front, almost shoving aside his son who was casually walking towards the sound of the knocking.

He opened the door just ajar, leaning his hip on the door as to prevent the teenage boys from viewing who was at the door. “Hey Jack. I’m glad that you could come.”

Jack’s response came semi-muffled. “Yeah, no problem, anything to get this jack ass off my back.”

Hanzo looked up at the word jack ass, “What?” He had a feeling he knew what was happening, but he didn’t want to jump to conclusions as he was prone to do.

Gabe looked over his shoulder at Hanzo. “Hmm? Oh, Jack just brought over his house guest. I thought maybe you two could talk since you seem to have so much in common.” He started to open the door further. 

Hanzo shut his eyes tight, frowning. “Please tell me it is Angela.” She was still considered a house guest, wasn’t she? She wasn’t a permanent dependent, so it may very well have been her just beyond the door. But he couldn’t bear to look. 

“Wow, you’re more stupid than you say I am to think it’s Angela.” His brother’s voice rang out through the air, sending chills down his spin and filling his mouth with a sour taste. 

He tried to remain calm on the outside. He breathed in shakily and opened his eyes. The scene in front of him, in the right circumstances, would have been considered funny. 

Jesse was sitting on the floor, whether because he wanted to or because he was pushed there by his adopted father. Gabe was standing in the foyer with his hand rubbing the back of his head, an almost sheepish look staining his face. A battle worn blond stood in the doorway, gripping his younger brother’s upper arm--his non-broken one. 

Presumably the man was Jack, and he was probably trying to keep him from running away. It was a good idea. Hanzo himself would be trying to run away had there not been an accumulation of people in or in front of the doorway. And he wasn’t even the one who had a record of running away!

Jack marched Genji in further into the Reyes residence. “You two-” He pointed at the two Japanese teens, “-need to make up and talk this out.”

Genji scowled, “We wouldn’t even have anything to talk about if Hanzo hadn’t fallen head over heels for the Southern Belle over here.” He gestured with the hand not trapped in the new cast. 

Jesse stood up off the ground, dusting off his pants as he did, “Wait, do you think I’m some southern hick?”

Both Shimada’s blinked at him. Even the start to such a conversation was wildly out of place. 

He didn’t wait for a response before continuing. “I’m from the west. I don’t have a southern accent.”

Hanzo reared his head back, “You do.” 

“No I do not. There’s a difference. The south was developed with a need for agriculture, so while they may wear flannel and jeans, they’re more about tractor country and southern tall tales. The south, on the other hand, was developed around cattle and a massive expansion west, mostly workers who weren’t into agriculture. So leather and denim were needed, hence the cowboy look. It was rougher than the south, even if acoustic guitar and tall tale culture spilled over. It’s totally different.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Jesse, not that I don’t appreciate your enthusiasm for the influences on our country's development, but can you not right now? We need these two to reach an emotional breakthrough.”

Genji once again scoffed. He might not have scoffed before, but he certainly was scoffing now, “The only thing that Hanzo is going to break is another one of my limbs.”

Oh, so that was his fault. The most Hanzo had gotten from their fight was several big bruises and a pain in his side that lasted for most of the week. 

Hanzo looked away from his brother, blinking slowly as he set his jaw to disguise his eye and head movements. He had nothing to say in response to that. Or to his brother in general. 

Was he sorry? Maybe. But he wasn’t going to show any sign of weakness now that it was apparent that their feud was still going. Was he angry? Yes. He was mostly reflecting Genji’s radiating anger and hurt, but a good portion of it was his own. Was he glad to see his brother again after days of not knowing if he was okay? Well. He didn’t really know. 

Just in general, it was too complicated. Much too complicated for him to try and act on any of what he was feeling. 

Gabe shifted a bit uncomfortably from where he still stood in the foyer. “I think maybe you two should have some time alone. We’ll just be in my office if you need anything.” He and Jack started to walk away, but he had to stop halfway to the hall leading to the back part of the house to call to his son. “Jesse, come on.”

Jesse frowned lightly at that request. “What needs to be so private about this? If they’re left alone who’s to say they won’t fight again or leave or just ignore each other?” He turned to the brothers standing in his living room. “I bet you guys can’t even remember fully why you’re upset.”

That was partially true. The real reason was because Genji was an ass and this was a long time coming. And Jesse played a large part in it too, what with Hanzo admittedly getting jealous, and Genji pushing him towards an unattainable goal and ripping it away from him. In general, this was a stressful time in their lives, and something just happened that Sunday to make both of them snap.

Still, the revelation that his anger at his brother was largely unfounded, or unnecessarily accelerated didn't suddenly cause Hanzo’s tense shoulders to drop or for him to look over at his brother with understanding and tears in his eyes. 

It didn’t seem to have that effect on Genji either. He just turned to scowl at Jesse, apparently his anger seeping into every relationship he had. “Of course I know why I’m angry at my brother. I kissed you on the night of the party and he turned into a jealous lout and attacked me.”

That was finally the thing to evoke a response out of Hanzo. “I’m not jealous. And I don’t even know what a lout is!”

“That’s your fault for sucking at English!”

“You’re only better because you forgot all the Japanese you learned, like the idiot you are.”

Genji flipped him off. “At least I can control myself when I don’t get what I want.”

“I’m not even that jealous!” He repeated. “It wasn’t all about Jesse you know. It’s because you’re irresponsible and put a lot of needless stress on me.”

“I do that all the time! The only thing that changed this time is because I kissed Jesse when you wanted. He even rejected me and you still had your panties in a knot.”

Hanzo bit the inside of his cheek. “It’s because you said you’d give me a fair shot, then you didn’t blink twice before stealing him away before I had a chance to talk to him.”

Jesse stood up once again; in the time that the two brother had left and the adults left the room, he had taken up camp on the couch.”Wait, you two ere like, legitimately fighting over me?”

Both of them rolled their eyes, almost in perfect unison. Being the more talkative one, Genji answered him, “Of course you wouldn’t have seen it. I bet you didn’t even know I liked you until I kissed you, you sweet, naive, gorgeous, fool.”

He frowned. “No, I knew before. I mean, I’m not that oblivious. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal, or that Hanzo was even interested, well until recently.”

Hanzo turned away from him slightly, “It doesn’t matter. You can’t do anything, so why do you even care?”

“Well, because I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lead you both on, much less cause a rift in your relationship.”

“Well, there’s a simple way to fix this,” genji turned fully to Jesse, not just his head or Torso anymore, his full body was facing Jesse. Hanzo followed suit. 

Jesse eagerly nodded from his spot just in front of the couch. “Sure, I’ll do anything to try and help you guys repair your brotherly love. What can I do for you?”

“Which one of us would you choose?”

That was not really the way Hanzo was expecting this to go. “What?” Jesse’s now frozen expression seemed to echo Hanzo’s words. 

Genji continued, “If we were both still pining after you and fighting for your affection, who would you choose? It would be the only way to get us to stop fighting, you have to choose.”

Hanzo blinked slowly before nodding in agreement with his brother. “Yes. I agree. Who would you prefer to date or spend the night with.” Finally he would get to know if he was better than his brother or not. Or maybe why people seemed to gravitate towards him more even though he did nothing with his goddamn life. 

Jesse sat there for a minute, saying nothing, not really moving, just standing with wide eyes and a blank smile as if he were internally screaming for a way out. Eventually, though, he spoke. 

“Genji, I guess? I was his friend first.”

“Ha!” That was the first thing out of Genji’s mouth as he reached to shove Hanzo somewhat lightly in the shoulder. The second thing was, “Wait. Then why did you get so upset at the party?”

“Cause you’re so young! You’re fifteen.”

“Almost sixteen.”

“Still, that’s young. And if I had a choice, I don’t think I would choose either of you.”

“But you did.” Genji stepped forward a couple of steps as to stand in front of the taller boy. “And you chose me.” He leaned up to plant a kiss on the corner of his mouth. 

Jesse didn’t move. 

Hanzo did. He stared harshly at the scene in front of him before leaving the house. He had nowhere to go but home now, and no way of getting there but calling his dad. This truly was not the best day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> surprising right? for me too. idk if i want to continue this. now i dont know how to end this. this is a huge cluster fuck and this is just all going down hill. i can at least get one more chapter in. also, i can tell you now exactly why it isn't working and its great. like, in the sense that it isnt at all and my life is ruined over my shitty fanfic choices. 
> 
> hey guys? last chapter i noticed i only got one comment. is it because i suck at writing? or the fandom suddenly lost all interest in mchanzo? or the story/plot got off topic? or because i asked you if i was better than james dashner and all my questions and confidence made yall uncomfortable and now im doing it again. 
> 
> anyway. ill post another chapter. see where that goes. then maybe end it unsatisfactorily and write an indepth thesis on where i went wrong.


	9. 'Round These Parts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, i'm in washingto right now, which gives me a lot of time to write since i cant do anythig in my down time, and i have a couple hours of plane rides. ironically enough, around this time last year (exactly this time last year because im in washington for the same reason: a birthday) i was writing 'Pretty MEssed Up" which I now consider to be great. everyone seemed to love it, and it was emotionally charged. 
> 
> anyway, a little after my essay got deleted and all that drama (lets not get into it) i reread some of that since i love that fic now and wanted to revisit my magnum opus. but i was reading the AN's since i find it fun to see what i was doing when I wrote it. (ao3 is the closest thing I have to a journal) and i was shocked to learn i hated writing that too. i determined that i just hate sharing my works or riting or something, but that really is a good fic i fact, just the other day i got like tnen comments on it from a binge reader and it was great. 
> 
> anyway, what im sayi g is, i hda an epiphany. i will always hate myself and what i write, but i have to tough through it. maybe i will take time off, or only write for praise, or even just write weird drama inducing essays as a form of fventing, but what i feel or do, isnt a reflection on my talents. and honestly, i should be writing more for myself than others (though i still do love validation)
> 
> i forgot where I was going with this. I guess I just want to say, thank you so so much for sticking through to the end. and im sorry for the deletign the old 'chapter nine' and all its comments. i read all of the responses to the poll, and honestly, i twas so touching and eye opening to see you all do that. im sorry for not returning any of the commets, but i was still working through things and all that. but thank you all so much. thank you, rteally, i cant express how much your appreciation for this fic have helped me. 
> 
> and without further ado, here is the first chapter in the last leg of this fic. we're back on track and ready to go full speed!
> 
> contains reference to marijuana

Jesse was currently not having the best day of his life. For starters, the week hadn’t started off very well, considering what was supposed to be hang time with a newly gained companion, turned into a stressful evening full of yelling and sticking his foot in his mouth. He wasn’t quite sure, but it seemed, all things considered, that he now had a new boyfriend. 

Now, he didn’t consider himself homophobic--different strokes for different folks, as he always said--but the idea of dating Genji made his stomach knot up with a feeling that could be described as anxiety, or maybe even disgust. Was it even considered homophobic in the first place to not want to date someone? 

He couldn’t even consider such delicate things in life despite feeling like he needed to, because Angela was currently bitching him out. Even before school started on Tuesday, she found him and cornered him in the foyer of their school with the sole intention of scolding him with a hushed voice, strained vocal cords, and eyes full of hurt and fury. 

“I can not believe you would do that Jesse. I thought you had an upstanding character. There’s just so many things wrong with what you did.”

“What!” He put his hands up, palms out in a sign of surrender, “I barely know what I did. How was it wrong?”

“What do you mean how was it wrong! You ruined a relationship.”

He winced, doing such in that odd way of his where he inhaled sharply through his teeth, making such a mundane action as wincing audible. “I didn’t mean to ruin their relationship, honest to God, Angela. I didn’t even know they were fighting over me in the first place. And when Genji asked me who I would choose, I thought long and hard before saying anything. I thought that was the right choice! I weighed all the pros and cons. They were waiting for an answer, I had to say something, their family was on the line!”

If there was something Jesse expected Angela to do after hearing that information, it was to relax her shoulders, sigh, and tell him he might have been wrong, but it wasn’t his fault for being a clueless boy, lost in the dealings of love. Instead, he scrunched her nose up more and scowled even harder, if possible. Her red rimmed eyes seemed to bore holes into his very being. She didn’t tell him it was all right. She didn’t even bother speaking in hushed yell anymore. 

“What the ever loving fuck are you talking about, Jesse? I could not possibly care less about the relationship between Hanzo and Genji. As far as I’m concerned, they shouldn’t talk to each other for a long while, not until they both figure their shit out. I’m talking about me and Genji! 

“Do you think that I’m just some lifeless side character in your shitty love story? Do you think that can’t have romance for myself? That I’m only here to give you advice and comfort? I have a lie of my own, and you fucking ruined it. You stole Genji from me. I don’t even know what he sees in you, but because you showed one ounce of interest in him, he’s going to leave me! I give him asylum when he was kicked out of his home, I patched him up when Hanzo beat him up, and I gave him love when you rejected him. But now, because you smile and wink in his general direction, he falls back head over heels in love with you. It’s not fair Jesse McCree. It’s not.”

He took a step back, signifying his literal physical and metaphysical retreat and subsequent surrender. “Listen, Angie, I know you’re upset and all, but I swear I didn’t mean for this to happen. I don’t even want to date Genji.”

“Yeah? Well, you should have thought of that before you screwed my relationship over.” She huffed before flipping him off and walking away. He strides were long and quick, possibly in an attempt of get away from his as quickly as possible rather than to look powerful or some other self preserving ideal.

Honestly, there was no reason to stay here any longer, not for him at least. The school year was in its last term, and nothing seemed to matter to anyone in an academic sense. And if anyone he ever considered to be a friend was just going to be angry or weird because of this whole kiss thing, he might as well leave. 

And that’s what he did. 

It only took him a few minutes to drive back home and walk back inside. Sombra was still getting ready to head out f\too school, and Gabs was still standing in the kitchen as he had been when Jesse left. 

The man looked up from his coffee , his brows raised high in something that could be compared to surprise. “What are you doing back so soon?”

He shrugged, “Federal holiday?”

Gabs shook his head, “Nope. Try again.”

“State holiday.”

Another head shake. 

“Uh, there’s no school for the high school today. I forgot why. But no one was there.”

Gabs sighed before walking over to the fridge and peeling off one of those magnetic calendars that showed the school’s schedule for the year. “This little guy says you have school. And I now it hasn’t ended yet. Just tell me why you’re here.”

Jesse sighed in turn, “I didn’t want to be there anymore. And it’s not like there really was a reason.”

“Why not?”

He shrugged again, as if the repetitive upwards motion of his shoulders would remove him emotionally from the situation at hand. “There just isn’t. I’m only taking electives and all the teachers and students are pretty much done, so nothing is getting done. And it’s just not a good environment right now.”

“A good environment academically?”

“Sure. Let’s go with that.”

Gabe sighed, “I thought you had friends. What happened?”

JEsse huffed indignantly, “I said it was an academic environment I didn’t like. Not social.”

He shook his head, “No, you said that you would agree the idea that it was the social environment. But you have to give me more credit Jesse. I’m not an idiot.You would still be going regardless of the level of effort the teachers were demanding of you, if only you had a firm social standing. Something’s up, and all I’m asking is that you share what’s wrong with me. I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.”

Another sigh sounded from Jesse, “Angela’s mad at me. And I know Hanzo is too. And I’m kind of not in the best standing with Genji right now.”

He nodded, “That’s rough. This is because of what happened last night, right?”

He nodded, “Yeah. It’s all bullshit though. It was hypothetical and empty and I just.” He sighed softly, “It’s not like I don’t understand why it’s a bad situation or why everyone is reacting like thy are. I just don’t think they would if they understood.”

Gabs set his cup of coffee down on the countertop with a long sigh, “If only life were teat easy. I’m sorry to say this, but I think you’ll find more often than not, that that’s the case. People would react better if they understood everyone one else’s motivation and feelings and all of that. That’s just not how life works. You’re going to have to get used to it.”

He scowled, “I understand that’s just how life works. That doesn’t mean that I like it. Or that I don’t want it to change.”

A deeper frown worked its way onto Gabe’s face, “Jesse, you need to check the attitude at the door. I won’t deal with this misguided aggression bullshit.”

Another huff escaped Jesse lips before he stormed off without another word. In just a few minutes, he found himself holed up in his room, just lying in bed and staring at the wall. There wasn’t much going through his mind except the unrelenting feel pos self depreciation and general misanthropy.

He didn’t know how long it had been since he had come home, and he couldn’t be bothered to check the time. It was boring work, sure, but could he really bring himself to do anything else, especially at a time like this?”

Some time later, minutes maybe, probably hours, a knock sounded at his door before Gabe poked his head into the room. “Are you going to feed yourself or do I need to bring you something.”

Jesse rolled over in bed to look at his foster father, “I’m fine. Thanks though.”

“I didn’t ask if you were fine. I asked if you are going to feed yourself.”

He shrugged, “Maybe.”

Gabe sighed before leaning his shoulder against the door frame, “Listen. I understand your upset and that this is sometimes just the natural state of your emotional well being, but you shouldn’t lie in here na due this self pitying. Get up, do something. Read a book or play a video game or go get high.”

He snorted, “Are you, a vet, really going to encourage me to do drugs?”

He shrugged, “If it gets you up and out of bed.”

He sat upright, “Okay, I’ll get up.”

Jesse moved from lying in his bed to lying on the couch downstairs. And that’s how he stayed for over a week. Sometimes, he would talk to Jack if he visited, but mostly he watched the kids that came by after school and on the weekends, and really, it was necessary since Angela was no longer showing up to help.

 

It wasn’t until Friday of the week after Jesse took his leave that he saw anyone even close to his own age. 

Genji was standing there on the porch, a small smile staining his lips. “Howdy cowboy, haven’t seen you around these parts for a while.”

Jesse frowned, “I’ve been around these parts, you haven’t. Speaking of which, what are you doing here, not that I don’t appreciate you coming out all this way.”

Genji rolled his dark eyes, “that’s not really what I mean. And you know that. But the reason I came here was to talk to you. I thought we should talk face to face for a little bit.”

He raised a brow, “Oh yeah? What about?”

“About me kissing you the other day, He started to visibly squirm, “I didn’t really mean to? Well, I guess I did. It was no accident, but I feel like it was a mistake. I was already and am still in a relationship with the lovely Angela. And I don’t think you enjoyed it, and it’s rude to kiss without permission and all that. But, I was so happy to get the closure for the chapter of my life, and more than that, prove that I was better than my brother in at least one thing. So I guess I got a little excited and cocky and...” He trailed off with a weak hand motion.

Jesse nodded, “I can understand that. I’m—“ The words fell from his mind. He took a breath before continuing, ‘I’m actually really glad you came to say that. Thanks.”

Genji nodded, “So, are we good?”

He shrugged, “I mean, I want to be. You’re pretty much the only friend I got left since eI pissed Angela off. But I mean, can things ever go back to the way they were before?”

He rolled his eyes again with a guttural ‘ugh’ noise. “That’s so cliche. I mean, we never were a thing, so I don’t see why we can’t go back to being friends. And I think that the whole ideal of piss someone off once and you can never be friends again is bullshit. I mean, I made up with Hanzo since last week.”

He raised a brow, :really, you did? But you two were having such a hard time.”

He shrugged, “Hanzo kind of went through an introspective phase or something. I can’t really explain it, but now it’s like he’s not walking around with a stick jammed two feet u[p his ass.”

Jesse snorted, “Once imagery right there. I really wanted to imagine that.”

“I’m sure you did.” He cracked a grin with a small laugh, “He’s the one who drove me here if you want to talk to him.” He gestured to the blue car still parked and idling on the street. 

Jesse shook his head, “I don’t think I should. He seemed pretty upset last I saw him. Maybe later…”

“No, come on!” He took a hold of his hand and drug him to the car where Hanzo was waiting, Listening to his punk music.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm making my friend beta this fic for me. but she hasn't read anything up until this chapter, so shes betaing all nine chapters. that being said, i might go back through this fic and make updates. i might just post a whole new fic, like keep this one up then have the next on ejust be better updated. thats what i did with an rvb fanfiction i wrote. i changed the title and reuploaded it, way better. 
> 
> i guess i should have put all my rambling about self reflection and loving my readers down here. but fuck it. i didnt even wait for my beta to finish reading and helping me with this, i was too impatient. i just want y'all t know im b ack. i might reupload this chapter later when my friend tells me how to get my shit together. 
> 
> and as always, leave a comment if you feel lik eit. i like them, but i no longer live off of them. if youre one of the nine that commented on the poll, please let me know so i can honor you.


	10. Funeral Cookies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking about changing the title. it was based off a tumblr post lost to the annals (LOL) of time, but it's not pertinent. any suggestions?
> 
> at this point, i say this fanfic belongs to the binge readers. 
> 
> chapter contains minor character death.

Jesse yanked his hand out of Genji’s grip before he could be dragged too far. “No, Genji, I ain’t gonna go talk to your brother. What would I even say?”

He turned around, a pout now playing on his lips, “That you’re sorry? I’m sure he’d apologise too.”

He shook his head, “I don’t think so. I-- don’t get me wrong, I do feel really bad about leading him on and what happened, but it’s hard. It’s not the easiest thing to go up to some guy and admit you’re wrong and what you did was kind of fucked up. I don’t think I have the humility to start such a conversation.”

“I could.”

“Yeah, but I’m not as good as you are in that aspect. Besides, you have Angela on your side.”

He blinked owlishly, “What does Angela have to do with this?”

“Didn’t she put you up to this?”

“No. She’s still a bit mad at you, why would she want us to be friends. I love her, but I don’t do everything she says or wants. And you don’t have to either, I should add.”

Jesse shrugged, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he did,“I guess. I just kinda feel like I was a better person when she still talked to me. She’s the kinda person who pushes you to be better and to apologize and shit. Maybe I can’t be a good person without someone telling me how.”

“I think that’s a load of bull. It has only been a week since you two haven’t talked, you can’t revert to being a bad person in that amount of time, especially if you did some crappy things while under her influence. And I am right here telling you how to be a good person, but you are ignoring me and looking for excuses.”

Another shrug from Jesse, “You’re right. But I still ain’t gonna let you drag me into an awkward confrontation with your brother while you stand there awkwardly. It’s just forced. I’ll just...do it some other time.” He turned on his heel to head back into the house, “Thanks for stopping by Genji, it means a lot.” 

He didn’t leave room for arguing before he closed the door. 

 

Jesse’s strike of solitude only a week longer, until he was forced out of the house by Gabe. 

“Hey, take these to the Amari’s.”

Jesse stared at the tray of cookies on the counter. Not even trying to hide the action, he reached out to grab one, only to have his hand smacked away. He scowled at Gabe for keeping him away from his coveted sweets, “Why do the Amari’s even need cookies? I need them more than they do.”

He shrugged, “I don’t know the specifics. She just told me that sending over some funeral cookies. So go and drop them off.”

With a reluctant nod, he picked up the tray and headed out the door. 

It only took a few minutes to drive to the other side of town to the Amari’s house. He stepped out of the car and moved to the porch in a few long steps. He rang the bell and waited. 

Moments after he rang the bell, he could hear the tell tale footfalls of Fareeha running for the door. How she could still be so full of energy at the soul crushing age of twelve, he didn’t know. 

She threw the door open, “Jesse! Gabriel called and said you were coming over.”

He grinned easily at her, “Ah really? He ruined my surprise, why’d he have to go and do that?”

“He wanted to make sure you didn’t get lost along the way.” 

“Well, you can tell him later that I didn’t get lost. And good thing I didn’t because these are for yo,” he presented the platter of home baked goods with a flourish. 

Fareeha happily took them, “Thank you! Are you going to come in? Mom would like to talk to you.”

“I’m good, but you can go ahead and tell her I said hi.”

That wasn’t a good enough answer for her, as was evident by her frown. Neither was it acceptable for Ana, who appeared in the foyer behind her daughter, almost as if scripted. 

“It’s rude to decline a ladies offer, Jesse. And after we’ve gone so long without seeing you?”

He gave and nervous laugh, “I should be going. You know, there are some things I need to be doing…”

“Like what? You’ve been lazing around the house for two weeks now. You can afford to stay and chat.” Before he could protest much more, she reached out and grabbed his hand, pulling him into their house.

At a loss for what else to do, he tried to make small talk, “So, did you just start craving Gabe’s cooking or what?” 

A soft frown took over Ana’s face, “No, they’re not for me. It’s sort of a consolation for a family in this neighborhood. There was a death in the immediate family and I don’t know how to help but to give cookies. But you know I can’t cook for shit.” She gave a small chuckle.

“That’s tough. Do I know the family?”

She shrugged, “I don’t know. I think one of the boys is your age but they keep to themselves.”

A sense of dread fell over him. But his suspicions must be wrong, right? He forced himself to respond to the older woman despite his budding anxieties, “I probably don’t know them, I don’t really talk to anyone my age. It’s mostly just you and Gabe’s other friends. But give them my condolences anyway.” 

“Why don’t you just go over there and give them your condolences yourself? Like I said, one of the boys is your age, and it would mean a lot more coming from you than me.”

He gave a heavy sigh but nodded. It was easier than arguing with Ana. “Okay, give me the address. I’ll bring the cookies over too.”

Ana gave a faux pout but handed the platter over, “You’re ruining my plans of making it look like I can actually bake.”

Jesse stuck out his tongue in return, “So sorry. Can I get that address?”

“Yeah, just a minute. And mind your manners, or I’ll be having a word with Gabriel.” She turned her back to him, probably to find something to write with. 

Once her back was to him, Jesse rolled his eyes, but he didn’t push the subject further. 

She turned back around with a sticky note. “The house is pretty close, you could probably walk if you wanted. Here’s a map, since I know addresses are useless to you millenials.”

Under any other circumstance, he might have been able to come up with a retort to that comment, even if it was only in his head. But, as soon as he saw the small pen map, his blood ran cold. He knew exactly where it was. 

 

In theory, Jesse knew that the Amari’s lived close to the Shimada’s. Ana was constantly complaining about the noise from their parties, and he had been to both of their houses, he wasn’t directionless enough to not know that they were in the same part of town. 

Still, how could the family Ana be talking about be the Shimada’s? He was steel reeling from the fact that there was an apparent death as he stood, shoeless in the foyer of the household.

Genji was sitting on the couch, hunched over with his clasped hands in front of him and elbows resting on his knees. The dogs were locked outside, whining to get back in, and Angela was there. Nothing was out of place, but none of it seemed familiar. 

Angela, the one who actually opened the door for him, took to the plate of cookies out of his hands and moved to the kitchen to put them up. As she walked, she gestured for Jesse to follow. And follow he did. 

Only when they were alone in the kitchen did she dare to break the silence, still refusing to meet his eye, “Listen, I don’t know who told you, but the announcement at school had already made this whole ordeal humiliating for them. Do you know how many people have come by?”

“A lot. Is that such a bad thing?”

“None of them are sincere, and it’s just in bad taste for you to come and be just as insincere, especially after all the pain you’ve caused these boys.”

He furrowed his brows, “Listen, Ange, I don’t know what you’re getting at here. I already made up with Genji.. And I was friends with both of them before any of this, so maybe my concern ain’t as insincere as you say.”

She remained silent as he finished speaking, though she averted her gaze even further. 

With a sigh, he continued, “Ange. I’m sorry you’re mad at me, or I guess sorry for making you mad. But I don’t know what you want me to do. And trying to keep me from Genji and Hanzo isn’t really your choice. If they don’t want to talk to me, fine. But I can’t help but feel you have a personal agenda.”

She was silent for a second longer before speaking in the same hushed tone as she had before, “Hanzo is upstairs. He hasn’t spoken to his brother or anyone else since Sojiro passed. He was fond of you for a time, you can go talk to him.”

He nodded and left the kitchen. 

It only took a moment to reach the top of the stairs. He knocked on the door to what must have been Hanzo’s bedroom. It was the only other one besides the master that wasn’t Genji’s. No response came. 

Sighing, he opened the door. Sure enough, sitting on the neat bed, staring at nothing was Hanzo. There was a plate of half eaten food on the bedside table, but the rest of the room seemed unlived in.

He turned his head once the door opened, still silent. Though this new vantage point showed off his dark circles rather well.

The first thing out of Jesse’s mouth, instead of something smart, was, “You finally look like the type of person who would listen to the music you like.” To be fair, Hanzo finally changed the way he dressed from distressed jeans and cool t-shirts to more ‘punk clothes’. And a few more piercings appeared on his face to compliment his undercut. 

And more to his credit, it did make Hanzo laugh, even if those short bursts of laughter were followed by tears. 

Frowning, Jesse moved further into the room, leaving the door ajar behind him. “Ah shit, I didn’t mean anything by it.” 

He reached out as if to physically comfort Hanzo, but stopped himself. This wasn’t his ten year old sister, he couldn’t fix this with a hug and a promise to get Gabe to make cookies. So instead, he let his arm drop and stood a couple feet from the bed at a loss for what to do.

Hanzo brought his hands up to his face,pressing the heels to his eyes as if that would stop the tears. “It is not your fault. You just caught me off guard with that stupid line. Can you please leave though, I don’t want to be seen.”

He let a moment of silence pass, “Okay. But do you not want to see any one right now, or just me.”

“It’s not just you. I don’t--I’m not humble enough to cry in front of others.”

Jesse frowned and moved closer. Without really thinking about pushing boundaries, he took a seat on the edge of Hanzo’s bed. “I get where you’re coming from, but I don’t think any one’s gonna blame you for crying at a time like this. I mean, it’s hard suddenly being on your own.”

He pulled his hands away to glare at him, “How would you fucking know what it’s like?”

He scowled back at him, “Remind me to never try and sympathize with you. But you’ve seen who I live with, a sister who isn’t related to me, and a father figure who isn’t. I lived for a while without anyone but myself and the streets, it’s fucking hard.”

His glare softened, “Sorry.”

“It’s fine, I get it. Angela probably is better to talk to if you’re looking for sympathy though. She remembers her loss a better, and it was more recent. I’ll say it was hard but she can say it’s hard and sad.”

“I still don’t really understand why you’re telling me.”

He shrugged, “It’s healthy to talk to people.”

“Speak for yourself. You haven’t been at school, and knowing you, i doubt you’ve actually talked to anyone. Besides, I’d rather not talk about family issues.”

Jesse gave a nervous chuckle. “Fair enough. On both fronts. We can talk about completely different things if you want, or I can leave.”

Hanzo was silent for a minute before sighing heavily. “You can stay. Right now you are the only one I can handle being around.”

For some reason, that brought a smile to Jesse’s face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm horribly horribly depressed right now. i'm going to go seek help tomorrow, but like, right now all ive been doing is crying and sleeping and staring into space. so to break the monotany and drag myself forcibly out of meloncholy before i do something i regret (i say, thinking i wont regret fucking writing this bullshit) i wrote this. how many months has it been? is anyone reading this anymore? i don't know.
> 
> please validate me. or suggest a title that does suck ass.


	11. The Morning After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> when I was in middleschool and just starting to write fanfiction, i would name all my chapters. its kinda fun. 
> 
> anuyway, as you can see, the hiatus is over! (does anyone remember my dramatic breakdown?) this is a really short chapter and half of it was written a while ago. i wanted it to be longer, but the characters didn't want to do what i wanted. and i dind't have it in me to follow this up with an actual plot. so, heres a resolution to the last chapter, and we'll work on getting this sorted out. 
> 
> also, the title changed since i got no suggestions but i hated the title. if any of yall have suggestions, yu can still leave them in the comments.

It started with the two teenagers sitting side by side on Hanzo’s bed, their backs pressed against the wall. Jesse assumed it was because Hanzo didn’t want him to see the tears still slowly falling down his face. 

Almost everything Jesse said at first was shut down for being too personal or for making Hanzo more upset. So, they ended up talking about movies; it seemed to be the only neutral topic they could both contribute to in a neutral way. Or at least Jesse thought. 

“I watched a lot of westerns when I was younger. My father had business over here in America, so we were planning on moving, but I was nervous about it, so I watched a lot of cowboy movies, the same way overweight men who still live in their parents basements watch a lot of japanese animation and think they can move to Japan.”

Jesse nodded, “Yeah? How did that work out for you?”

“Not great. I mean, I knew no one was going to be dressed like a cowboy, especially since I knew westerns were period pieces. But I thought cowboys were extinct until I met you.”

He sighed, “Only yanks think that cowboys are extinct and that cowboy culture is a period thing. If you’ve been to the west or the south or midwest, you’d understand. But whatever, continue.”

Hanzo huffed, “Foreigners can think it too. But as I was saying, that’s how I learned a lot of my English. I might have learned a bit more before we left, but we immigrated sooner than we expected because my mother died. It was unexpected. My father couldn’t stand being there, so we moved.”

Jesse remained silent, though out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Hanzo raise a hand to his face again. 

“I don’t know what’s worse. The unexpected death of someone close to you, or watching someone you love die slowly in front of you.” The last few words came out choked. 

At a loss for what else to do, he reached over and wrapped a single arm around Hanzo in an attempt to console him.

He didn’t pull away. The two just sat there in silent solidarity as equally silent tears rolled down Hanzo’s cheeks. 

 

Jesse wasn’t sure when he fell asleep or what time it was when he woke up. He pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time, wincing at both the insatiable light from the screen and the amount of missed texts and calls from Gabe he had amassed.   
He glanced to his right to see Hanzoo still asleep, his head resting heavily on his shoulders. Jesse couldn’t help but smile at the sight. 

Trying not to wake the boy, he redialed the last number n his call log. Not seconds after the call went through did Gabe pick up.

“Where are you?” HI voice had plenty of worry laced throughout it, but his tone was level and the pace calm as it usually was. 

“I’m at the Shimada’s. I fell asleep before I could tell you, I’m sorry.”

“Just don’t do it again. I thought you had gone and gotten yourself killed.”

He shrugged, realizing his guardian couldn’t see it. “Yeah. I was visiting the Shimadas and I accidentally stayed the night.”

Gabriel was quiet for a moment, “Did you use a condom?”

Jesse sighed heavily, “We didn’t have sex. I’m coming home soon anyway.” That was, if Hanzo woke up soon. 

“Okay. See you soon.” The older man hung up. 

Jesse sat still for a moment, not wanting to disturb Hanzo, but his restlessness and general needs got the best of him soon enough. Slowly, he pushed himself away, but that naturally woke Hanzo up. 

He righted himself and stared at Jesse through sleepy eyes, “What are you ding here?”

He shrugged in response, “I don’t rightly know myself.” He shifted his weight from foot to foot for a moment, “I’ll be right back, then we can talk, okay? I’ll even treat you t breakfast.” 

No response was given as Jesse walked out of the room. 

Hanzo just sat and waited, staring at his hands. The situation made it sound like the two had a one night stand, but Hanzo jknew that to be false. As he woke up more and more, he could remember last night, and the silence that pervaded. 

He didn’t have much time to dwell on it before Jesse stepped back into the room, “OKay, I promised breakfast. Where do you want to go?”

Hanzoo shrugged, “I don’t really care. I’m not that hungry.”

“Fair enough. But you should at least leave the house. You don’t have to order anything.”

“I don’t want to leave the house.”

Jesse sigh heavily. “Fine. Do you just want to talk here.”

“I don’t think there’s anything to talk about. Everything that has happened thus far has been pretty straight forward.”

He huffed, “Maybe t to you, But I’m a bit confused as to where you stand on your opinion of me.”

“What do you think.” Irritation flooded his voice as he spoke. 

Jesse huffed, “I think you’re mad at me and you’re not interested in me, but you’re mad that I’m not interested in you. Or something. It’s all been very confusing.”

Hanzoo didn’t respond, causing Jesse to sigh. “I don’t know. I don’t dislike you myself, and I’m sorry I ever got the wrong opinion of you, but you’re being closed off as usual. I get that your dad just died, but like, can’t you throw me a rope?”

Again no response other than Hanzo turning to look away from him. 

Another sigh fell out of McCree’s muth, “Okay. I’ll talk to you later when you’re feeling well. Ans the offer for breakfast is still on the table. Bye,I guess.” He walked out of the bedroom at that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so what'd you think? is anyone reading this anymore? will jesse and hanzo ever get together?

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so some things. Hanzo would be a punk if his father would allow it. His father would, since he loves his sons, but he feels like he can't. So he acts like a jock and preppy boy with a 3.9 gpa, wishing he could get more tattoos than he has, get an undercut and piercings everywhere. He does track and field for school, but in his spare time, he does rock-climbing, parkour, fencing, and archery. He’s openly gay, no one really cares, but he thinks they care if he dated the kind of outcast. 
> 
> Genji is a stoner weeb, dyes his hair, smokes pot, shows up fifty percent of the time, but manages to get decent grades anyway. He's openly bi, doesn't really consider himself super popular, but he's not an outcast. Everyone knows him and is friendly, but he doesn’t see many people as friends. He doesn’t do sports, but his father has asked him to do some of the sports that Hanzo does, so he does. His goal in life is to win that sport show American ninja, or to go to Japan to produce manga or games. He doesn’t know. Both he and Hanzo have lived in Japan, but now live in America because their father's work. 
> 
> Jesse lived in the south west with his birth parents until he was like eleven or some shit. Grew up with the culture of the south west, which I can legit tell you, is cowboy hats and cowboy boots, its pretty much a constant through the south west and mid-west. They died, he got involved in some shady stuff to 'keep off the streets' even though technically he didn’t have a home still. Got picked up by Gabriel Reyes who was working in the military at the time and saw so many homeless kids in the area he was deployed in (he was state side) so he adopted those who really needed it, ended up with Sombra and Jesse. Jesse is just tired all the time, he forces himself to be polite and cheerful, but when left alone he's just so sad and tired. Really into American history, but he doesn’t dress like a cowboy because of that. That's just what they wear in the south west. Yes, people wear serape's still. 
> 
> Angela is Jesse's only friend from before he went to school, because she's like family to him. She's Jack's adopted daughter, knows what she's doing with her life, into medicine, all that. She's a supporting character, I'm sorry. She's hella cool and I love her though.


End file.
